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THE DIVORCE 

OP 

CATHERINE OF ARAGON 



THE DIVORCE 



OF 



CATHERINE OF ARAGON 



THE STORY AS TOLD BY THE IMPERIAL AMBASSADORS 

RESIDENT AT THE COURT OF 

HENRY VHI. 



IN USUM LAICORUM 



J. A. FROUDE 



- 



BEING A SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUME TO THE 
AUTHOR'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1891 

[All rights reserved] 






THE LIBRARY f 
OF CONGRESS [! 

WASHINGTON [' 

____ 

Copyright, 1891, 
Br CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. 



The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. 
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company, 



7<r^ 



JV 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Intuoduction ..... 1 



CHAPTER I. 

Prospects of a disputed succession to the crown — Various claim- 
ants — Catherine incapable of having- further children — 
Irregularity of her marriage with the King- — Papal dispen- 
sations — First mention of the divorce — Situation of the 
Papacy — Charles V. — Policy of Wolsey — Anglo-French 
alliance — Imperial troops in Italy — Appeal of the Pope — 
Mission of Inigo de Mendoza — The Bishop of Tarhes — Legit- 
imacy of the Princess Mary called in question — Secret meet- 
ing of the Legates' court — Alarms of Catherine — Sack of 
Rome by the Duke of Bourbon — Proposed reform of the 
Papacy — The divorce promoted by Wolsey — Unpopular in 
England — Attempts of the Emperor to gain Wolsey . . 21 



CHAPTER II. 

Mission of Wolsey to Paris — Visits Bishop Fisher on the way 
— Anxieties of the Emperor — Letter of the Emperor to 
Henry VIII. — Large offers to Wolsey — Address of the 
French Cardinals to the Pope — Anne Boleyn chosen by 
Henry to succeed Catherine — Surprise and displeasure of 
Wolsey — Fresh attempts of the Emperor to bribe him — 
Wolsey forced to continue to advocate the divorce — Mission 
of Dr. Knight to Rome — The Pope at Orvieto — The King- 
applies for a dispensation to make a second marriage — Lan- 
guage of the dispensation demanded — Inferences drawn 
from it — Alleged intrigue between the King and Mary Bo- 
leyn ........... 41 



vi Contents. 



CHAPTER III. 

Anxiety of the Pope to satisfy the King — Fears of the Emperor 

— Proposed alternatives — France and England declare war 
in the Pope's defence — Campeggio to be sent to England — 
The King's account of the Pope's conduct — The Pope's dis- 
tress and alarm — The secret decretal — Instructions to Cam- 
peggio 02 

CHAPTER IV. 

Anne Boleyn — Letters to her from the King — The Convent at 
Wilton — The Divorce — The Pope's promises — Arrival of 
Campeggio in England — Reception at the Bridewell Palace 

— Proposal to Catherine to take the veil — Her refusal — 
Uncertainty of the succession — A singular expedient — 
Alarms of Wolsey — The true issue — Speech of the King in 
the City — Threats of the Emperor — Defects in the Bull of 
Pope Julius — Alleged discovery of a brief supplying them 

— Distress of Clement ........ 70 

CHAPTER V. 

Demands of the Imperial Agent at Rome — The alleged Brief 

— Illness of the Pope — Aspirations of Wolsey — The Pope 
recovers — Imperial menaces — Clement between the anvil and 
the hammer — Appeal of Henry to Francis — The trial of 
the cause to proceed — Instructions to Campeggio — Opinion 
at Rome — Recall of Mendoza — Final interview between 
Mendoza and the King 80 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Court at Blackfriars — The point at issue — The Pope's 
competency as judge — Catherine appeals to Rome — Im- 
perial pressure upon Clement — The Emperor insists on the 
Pope's admission of the appeal — Henry demands sentence 
— Interference of Bishop Fisher — The Legates refuse to 
give judgment — The Court broken up — Peace of Cam- 
bray . . . „ .I)',* 

CHAPTER VII. 

Call of Parliament — Wolsey to be called to account — Anxiety 
of the Emperor to prevent a quarrel — Mission of Eustace 
Chapuys — Long interview with the King — Alarm of Cath- 



Contents. vii 

Brine — Growth of Lutheranism — The English clergy — 
Lord Darcy's Articles against Wolsey — Wolsey's fall — De- 
parture of Campeggio — Letter of Henry to the Pope — Ac- 
tion of Parliament — Intended reform of the Church — Alien- 
ation of English feeling from the Papacy . . . .110 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Hope of Wolsey to return to power — Anger of Anne Boleyn 
and the Duke of Norfolk — Charles V. at Bologna — Issue 
of a prohibitory brief — The Pope secretly on Henry's side 
— Collection of opinions — Norfolk warns Chapuys — State of 
feeling in England — Intrigues of Wolsey — His illness and 
death 181 



CHAPTER IX. 

Danger of challenging the Papal dispensing power — The Royal 
family of Spain — Address of the English Peers to the Pope 
- Compromise proposed by the 1 hike of Norfolk — The 
English Agents at Rome — Arrival of a new Nuncio in Eng- 
land — His interview with the King — Chapuys advises the 
King's excommunication — Position of the English clergy — 
Statute of Provisors — The clergy in a Praemunire — Remon- 
strances of the Nuncio — Despair of Catherine — Her letter 
to the Pope — Henry prepares for war — The introduction of 
briefs from Rome forbidden — Warnings given to the Span- 
ish Ambassador and the Nuncio ...... 141 



CHAPTER X. 

State of feeling in England — Clergy and laity — The Clergy in 
a Praemunire — The Royal Supremacy — Hesitation at Rome 

— Submission of the Clergy — The meaning of the new title 

— More and Fisher — Alarm of the Emperor — Appeal of 
Catherine to him — Unpopularity of Anne Boleyn — Threats 
of excommunication — Determination of Henry — Deputa- 
tion of Peers to Catherine — Catherine's reply — Intolerable 
pretensions of the Emperor — Removal of Catherine from 

the Court 157 



CHAPTER XI. 

Proposals for the reunion of Christendom — Warning addressed 
to the Pope — Address of the English nobles to Queen Cath- 



viii Contents. 

erine — Advances of Clement to Henry — Embarrassments 
of the Pope and the Emperor — Unwillingness of the Pope to 
decide against the King — Business in Parliament — Reform 
of the English Church— Death of Archbishop Warham — 
Bishop Fisher and Chapuys — Question of annates — Papal 
Briefs — The Pope urged to excommunicate Henry — The 
Pope refuses — Anger of Queen Catherine's Agent . . 173 



CHAPTER XII. 

Henry advised to marry -without waiting for sentence — Meeting 
of Henry and Francis — Anne Boleyn present at the inter- 
view— Value of Anne to the French Court — Pressure on 
the Pope by the Agents of the Emperor — Complaints of 
Catherine — Engagements of Francis — Action of Clement — 
The King conditionally excommunicated — Demand for final 
sentence — Cranmer appointed Archbishop of Canterbury — 
Marriage of Henry and Anne Boleyn — Supposed connivance 
of the Pope — The Nuncio attends Parliament — The Act of 
Appeals — The Emperor entreated to intervene — Chapuys 
and the King !•« 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The King's claim — The obstinacy of Catherine — The Court at 
Dunstable — Judgment given by Cranmer — Debate in the 
Spanish Council of State — Objections to armed interference — 
The English opposition — Warning given to Chapuys — Cha- 
puys and the Privy Council — Conversation with Cromwell — 
Coronation of Anne Boleyn — Discussions at Rome — Bull 
supra Attentatis — Confusion of the Catholic Powers — Libels 
against Henry — Personal history of Cromwell — Birth of 
Elizabeth — The King's disappointment — Bishop Fisher de- 
sires the introduction of a Spanish army into England — 
Growth of Lutheranism ........ 218 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Interview between the Pope and Francis at Marseilles — Pro- 
posed compromise — The divorce case to be heard at Cam- 
bray — The Emperor consents — Catherine refuses — The 
story of the Nun of Kent — Bishop Fisher in the Tower — 
Imminent breach with the Papacy —Catherine and the Princess 
Mary — Separation of the Princess from her mother — Cath- 
erine at Kimbolton — Appeals to the Emperor — Encourage- 



Conic uis. 



IX 



ment of Lutheranism — Last efforts at Rome — Final sentence 
delivered by the Pope — The Pope's authority abolished in 
England 243 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Papal curse — Determined attitude of the Princess Mary 

— Chapuys desires to be heard in Parliament — Interview 
with the King — Permission refused — The Act of Succession 

— Catherine loses the title of Queen — More and Fisher re- 
fuse to swear to the statute — Prospects of rebellion in Ire- 
land — The Emperor unwilling to interfere — Perplexity of 
the Catholic party — Chapuys before the Privy Council — 
Insists on Catherine's rights — Singular defence of the Pope's 
action — Chapuys's intrigues — Defiant attitude of Catherine 

— Fears for her life — Condition of Europe — Prospect of 
war between France and the Empire — Unwillingness of the 
Emperor to interfere in England — Disappointment of Cath- 
erine — Visit of Chapuys to Kimbolton 260 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Prosecution of Lord Dacre — Failure of the Crown — Rebellion 
in Ireland — Lord Thomas Fitzgerald — Delight of the Cath- 
olic party — Preparations for a rising in England — The 
Princess Mary — Lord Hussey and Lord Darcy — Schemes 
for insurrection submitted to Chapuys — General disaffection 
among the English Peers — Death of Clement VII. — Elec- 
tion of Paul III. — Expectation at Rome that Henry would 
now submit — The expectation disappointed — The Act of 
Supremacy — The Italian conjuror — Reginald Pole — Vio- 
lence and insolence of Anne Boleyn — Spread of Lutheran- 
ism — Intended escape of the Princess Mary out of Eng- 
land . 283 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Prospects of civil war — England and Spain — Illness of the 
Princess Mary — Plans for her escape — Spirit of Queen 
Catherine — The Emperor unwilling to interfere — Negotia- 
tions for a new treaty between Henry and Charles — Debate 
in the Spanish Council of State — The rival alliances — Dis- 
appointment of the confederate Peers — Advance of Luther- 
anism in England — Cromwell and Chapuys — Catherine and 
Mary the obstacles to peace — Supposed designs on Mary's 
life , m\ 



Contents. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Negotiations for a treaty — Appeal of Catherine to the Emperor 

— Fresh plans for the escape of Mary — Forbidden by the 
Emperor — The King' and his daughter — Suggestion of Dr. 
Butts — The clergy and the Reformation — The Charterhouse 
monks — More and Fisher in the Tower — The Emperor in 
Africa — The treaty — Rebellion in Ireland — Absolution of 
Lord Thomas Fitzgerald for the murder of the Archbishop 
of Dublin — Treason of Lord Hussey — Fresh debates in 
the Spanish Council — Fisher created cardinal — Trial and 
execution of Fisher and More — Effect in Europe . . . 318 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Campaign of the Empe? or in Africa — Uncertainties at Rome — 
Policy of Francis — English preparations for war — Fresh ap- 
peals to the Emperor - Delay in the issue of the censures 

— The Princess Mary — Letter of Catherine to the Pope — 
Disaffection of the English Catholics — Libels ag^ist Henry 

— Cromwell and Chapuys — Lord Thomas Fitzgerald — 
Dangerous position of Henry — Death of the Duke of Milan 

— Effect on European policy — Intended Bull of Paid III. 

— Indecision of Charles — Prospect of war with France — 
Advice of Charles to Catherine — Distrust of the Emperor at 
the Papal Court — Warlike resolution of the Pope restrained 

by the Cardinals ......... 347 

CHAPTER XX. 

Illness of Queen Catherine — Her physicians' report of her 
health — Her last letter to the Emperor — She sends for 
Chapuys — Interview between Chapuys and Henry — Chapuys 
at Kimbolton — Death of Catherine — Examination of the 
body — Suspicion of poison — Chapuys's opinion — Recep- 
tion of the news at the Court — Message of Anne Boleyn to 
the Princess Mary — Advice of Chapuys — Unpopularity of 
Anne — Court rumours . . . . . . . .371 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Funeral of Catherine — Miscarriage of Anne — The Princess 
Mary and the Act of Supremacy — Her continued desire to 
escape — Effect of Catherine's death on Spanish policy — De- 
sire of the Emperor to recover the English alliance — Chapuys 
and Cromwell — Conditions of the treaty — Efforts of the 



Contents. xi 

Emperor to recover Henry to the Church — Matrimonial 
schemes — Likelihood of a separation of the King from Anne 

— Jane Seymour — Anne's conduct — The Imperial treaty 

— Easter at Greenwich — Debate in Council — The French 
Alliance or the Imperial — The alternative advantages — 
Letter of the King to his Ambassador in Spain . . . 389 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Easter at Greenwich — French and Imperial factions at the 
English court — Influence of Anne Boleyn — Reports of 
Anne's conduct submitted to the King — Flying rumours — 
Secret Commission of Enquiry — Arrests of various persons 

— Sir Henry Norris and the King — Anne before the Privy 
Council — Sent to the Tower — Her behaviour and admis- 
sions — Evidence taken before the Commission — Trials of 
Norris, Weston, Brereton, and Smeton — Letter of Weston — 
Trial of Anne and her brother — Executions — Speech of 
Rochford on the scaffold — Anne sentenced to die — Makes 
a confession to Cranmer — Declared to have not been the 
King's lawful wife — Nature of the confession not known — 
Execution .......... 412 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Competition for Henry's hand — Solicitations from France and 
from the Emperor — Overtures from the Pope — Jane Sey- 
mour — General eagerness for the King's marriage — Con- 
duct of Henry in the interval before Anne's execution — 
Marriage with Jane Seymour — Universal satisfaction — The 
Princess Mary — Proposal for a General Council — Neutrality 
of England in the war between France and the Empire . . 436 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Expectation that Henry would return to the Roman Communion 

— Henry persists in carrying out the Reformation — The 
Crown and the clergy — Meeting of a new Parliament — 
Fresh repudiation of the Pope's authority — Complications of 
the succession — Attitude of the Princess Mary — Her reluc- 
tant submission — The King empowered to name his successor 
by will — Indication of his policy — The Pilgrimage of Grace 

— Cost of the Reformation — The martyrs, Catholic and 
Protestant .....„.„„. 450 



Index 4fin 



THE DIVORCE 



CATHERINE OF ARAGON. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The mythic element cannot be eliminated out of 
history. Men who play leading parts on the world's 
stage gather about them the admiration of friends and 
the animosity of disappointed rivals or political ene- 
mies. The atmosphere becomes charged with legends 
of what they have said or done — some inventions, 
some distortions of facts, but rarely or never accurate. 
Their outward acts, being public, cannot be absolutely 
misstated ; their motives, being known only to them- 
selves, are an open field for imagination ; and as the 
disposition is to believe evil rather than good, the por- 
traits drawn may vary indefinitely, according to the 
sympathies of the describer, but are seldom too favour- 
able. The more distinguished a man is the more he is 
talked about. Stories are current about him in his 
own lifetime, guaranteed apparently by the highest 
authorities ; related, insisted upon ; time, place, and 
circumstance accurately given — most of them mere 
malicious lies ; yet, if written down, to reappear in 
memoirs a hundred years hence, they are likely to pass 
for authentic, or at least probable. Even where there 
is no malice, imagination will still be active. People 



2 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

believe or disbelieve, repeat or suppress, according to 
their own inclinations ; and death, which ends the 
fends of unimportant persons, lets loose the tongues 
over the characters of the great. Kings are espe- 
cially sufferers ; when alive they hear only flattery ; 
when they are gone men revenge themselves by draw- 
ing hideous portraits of them, and the more distin- 
guished they may have been the more minutely their 
weaknesses are dwelt upon. " C'est un plaisir indici- 
ble," says Voltaire, " de donner des decrets contre des 
souverains morts quand on ne peut en lancer contre 
eux de leur vivant de peur de perdre ses oreilles." 
The dead sovereigns go their way. Their real work 
for good or evil lives after them; but they themselves 
are where the opinions expressed about their character 
affect them no more. To Csesar or Napoleon it mat- 
ters nothing what judgment the world passes upon 
their conduct. It is of more importance for the eth- 
ical value of history that acts which as they are re- 
lated appear wicked should be duly condemned, that 
acts which are represented as having advanced the 
welfare of mankind should be duly honoured, than that 
the real character of individuals should be correctly 
appreciated. To appreciate any single man with com- 
plete accuracy is impossible. To appreciate him even 
proximately is extremely difficult. Rulers of king- 
doms may have public reasons for what they do, which 
at the time may be understood or allowed for. Times 
change, and new interests rise. The circumstances 
no longer exist which would explain their conduct. 
The student looks therefore for an explanation in ele- 
ments which he thinks he understands — in pride, am- 
bition, fear, avarice, jealousy, or sensuality; and, 
settling the question thus to his own satisfaction, 
resents or ridicules attempts to look for other motives. 



Historic Legends. 3 

So long as his moral judgment is generally correct, lie 
inflicts no injury, and he suffers none. Cruelty and 
lust are proper objects of abhorrence; he learns to 
detest them in studying the Tiberius of Tacitus, 
though the character described by the great Roman 
historian may have been a mere creation of the hatred 
of the old Roman aristocracy. The manifesto of the 
Prince of Orange was a libel against Philip the Sec- 
ond; but the Philip of Protestant tradition is an em- 
bodiment of the persecuting spirit of Catholic Europe 
which it would be now useless to disturb. The ten- 
dency of history is to fall into wholesome moral lines 
whether they be accurate or not, and to interfere with 
harmless illusions may cause greater errors than it 
aspires to cure. Crowned offenders are arraigned at 
the tribunal of history for the crimes which they are 
alleged to have committed. It may be sometimes 
shown that the crimes were not crimes at all, that the 
sufferers had deserved their fate, that the severities 
were useful and essential for some great and valuable 
purpose. But the reader sees in the apology for acts 
which he had regarded as tyrannical a defence of tyr- 
anny itself. Preoccupied with the received interpre- 
tation, he finds deeds excused which he had learnt to 
execrate; and in learning something which, even if 
true, is of no real moment to him, he suffers in the 
maiming of his perceptions of the difference between 
right and wrong. The whitewashing of the villains 
of tradition is, therefore, justly regarded as waste of 
labour. If successful, it is of imperfect value; if 
unsuccessful, it is a misuse of industry which deserves 
to be censured. Time is too precious to be squan- 
dered over paradoxes. The dead are gone ; the cen- 
sure of mankind has written their epitaphs, and so 
they may be left. Their true award will be decided 
elsewhere. 



4 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragott. 

This is the eommonsense verdict. When the work 
of a man is done and ended ; when, except indirectly 
and invisibly, he affects the living world no more, the 
book is closed, the sentence is passed, and there he 
may be allowed to rest. The case is altered, however, 
when the dead still live in their actions, when their 
principles and the effects of their conduct are still vig- 
orous and operative, and the movements which they 
initiated continue to be fought over. It sometimes 
happens that mighty revolutions can be traced to the 
will and resolution of a single man, and that the con- 
flict continues when he is gone. The personal char- 
acter of such a man becomes then of intrinsic impor- 
tance as an argument for attack or defence. The 
changes introduced by Henry VIII. are still de- 
nounced or defended with renewed violence ; the ashes 
of a conflict which seemed to have been decided are 
again blown into a flame ; and what manner of man 
Henry was, and what the statesmen and churchmen 
were who stood by him and assisted him in reshaping 
the English constitution, becomes a practical question 
of our own time. By their fruits ye shall know them. 
A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, neither can a cor- 
rupt tree bring forth good fruit. Roman Catholics 
argue from the act to the man, and from the man back 
to the act. The Reformation, they say, was a rebel- 
lion against an authority appointed by God for the 
rule of the world; it was a wicked act in itself; the 
author or the authors of it were presumably, there- 
fore, themselves wicked ; and the worst interpretation 
of their conduct is antecedently probable, because a 
revolt against the Church of Christ could only have 
originated in depraved hearts. Or again, inverting 
the argument, they say with sufficient plausibility 
that the sins and crimes of the King are acknowledged 



Character of Henry the Eighth. 5 

facts of history; that from so bad a man no good 
thing could ever rise; that Henry was a visible ser- 
vant of the devil, and therefore the Reformation, of 
which he was the instrument, was the devil's work. 
If the picture drawn of him by his Catholic contempo- 
raries is correct, the inference is irresistible. That 
picture, however, was drawn by those whose faith he 
wounded and whose interests he touched, and therefore 
might be regarded with suspicion. Religious animos- 
ity is fertile in calumny, because it assumes beforehand 
that every charge is likely to be true in proportion to 
its enormity, and Catholic writers were credulous of 
evil when laid to the charge of so dangerous an adver- 
sary. But the Catholics have not been Henry's only 
accusers; all sorts and sects have combined in the 
general condemnation. The Anglican High Church- 
man is as bitter against him as Reginald Pole himself. 
He admits and maintains the separation from Rome 
which Henry accomplished for him ; but he abhors as 
heartily as Pole or Lingard the internal principles of 
the Reformation. He resents the control of the clergy 
by the civil power. He demands the restoration of 
the spiritual privileges which Henry and his parlia- 
ments took away from them. He aspires to the recov- 
ery of ecclesiastical independence. He therefore with 
equal triumph points to the blots in Henry's charac- 
ter, and deepens their shade with every accusation, 
proved or improved, which he can find in contempo- 
rary records. With him, too, that a charge was al- 
leged at the time is evidence sufficient to entitle him 
to accept it as a fact. 

Again, Protestant writers have been no less unspar- 
ing, from an imprudent eagerness to detach their cause 
from a disreputable ally. In Elizabeth's time it was 
a point of honour and loyalty to believe in the inno- 



6 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

cence of her mother. If Anne Boleyn was condemned 
on forged or false evidence to make way for Jane Sey- 
mour, what appears so clearly to us must have been 
far clearer to Henry and his Council ; of all abomina- 
ble crimes committed by tyrannical princes there was 
never one more base or cowardly than Anne's execu- 
tion; and in insisting on Anne's guiltlessness they 
have condemned the King, his ministers, and his par- 
liaments. Having discovered him to have murdered 
his wife, they have found him also to have been a per- 
secutor of the truth. The Reformation in England 
was at its outset political rather than doctrinal. The 
avarice and tyranny of the Church officials had galled 
the limbs of the laity. Their first steps were to break 
the chains which fretted them, and to put a final end 
to the temporal power of the clergy. Spiritual liberty 
came later, and came slowly from the constitution of 
the English mind. Superstition had been familiarised 
by custom, protected by natural reverence, and shielded 
from inquiry by the peculiar horror attaching to un- 
belief. The nation had been taught from immemorial 
time that to doubt on the mysteries of faith was the 
worst crime which man could commit; and while they 
were willing to discover that on their human side the 
clergy were but brother mortals of questionable char- 
acter, they drew a distinction between the Church as 
a national institution and the doctrines which it 
taught. An old creed could not yield at once. The 
King did much; he protected individual Lutherans to 
the edge of rashness. He gave the nation the English 
Bible. He made Latimer a bishop. He took away 
completely and for ever the power of the prelates to 
punish what they called heresy ex officio and on their 
own authority; but the zeal of the ultra-Protestants 
broke loose when the restraint was taken off; the 



Unanimity of Censure. 1 

sense of the country was offended by the irreverence 
with which objects and opinions were treated which 
they regarded as holy, and Parliament, which had put 
a bit in the mouth of the ecclesiastical courts, was 
driven to a substitute in the Bill of the Six Articles. 
The advanced section in popular movements is usually 
unwise. The characteristic excellence of the English 
Reformation is, that throughout its course it was re- 
strained by the law, and the Six Articles Bill, tem- 
pered as it was in the execution, was a permissible, 
and perhaps useful, measure in restraint of intemper- 
ance. It was the same in Germany. Anabaptists 
continued to be burnt in Saxony and Hesse long after 
Luther's revolt; Calvin thought the stake a fitting 
penalty for doubts upon the Trinity. John Knox, in 
Scotland, approved of witch-burning and sending 
mass-priests to the gallows. Henry could not disre- 
gard the pronounced feeling of the majority of the 
English people. He was himself but one of them, 
and changed slowly as they changed. Yet Protestant 
tradition has assumed that the bloody whip with six 
strings was an act of arbitrary ferocity. It considers 
that the King could, and ought to, have advanced at 
once into an understanding of the principle of tolera- 
tion — toleration of the new opinions, and a more se- 
vere repression of the old. The Puritans and Evan- 
gelicals forgot that he had given them the English 
Testament. They forgot that by setting his foot upon 
the bishops he had opened the pulpits to themselves, 
and they classed him among the persecutors, or else 
joined in the shallow laughs of the ultramontane Cath- 
olics at what they pleased to call his inconsistency. 

Thus from all sides a catena of invective has been 
wrapped about Henry's character. The sensible part 
of the country held its tongue. The speakers and 



8 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

writers were the passionate and fanatical of both per- 
suasions, and by them the materials were supplied for 
the Henry VIII. who has been brought down to us by 
history, while the candid and philosophic thinkers of 
the last and present centuries have accepted the tra- 
ditional figure. In their desire to be impartial they 
have held the balance equal between Catholics and 
Protestants, inclining slightly to the Catholic side, 
from a wish to conciliate a respectable body who had 
been unjustly maligned and oppressed; while they 
have lavished invectives upon the early Reformers 
violent enough to have satisfied even Pole himself, 
whose rhetoric has formed the base of their declama- 
tion. 

Liberal philosophy would have had a bad time of it 
in England, perhaps in all Europe, if there had been 
no Henry VIII. to take the Pope by the throat. But 
one service writers like Macaulay have undoubtedly 
accomplished. They have shown that it is entirely im- 
possible to separate the King from his ministers — to 
condemn Henry and to spare Cranmer. Protestant 
writers, from Burnet to Southey, have tried to save 
the reforming bishops and statesmen at Henry's ex- 
pense. Cranmer, and Latimer, and Ridley have been 
described as saints, though their master was a villain. 
But the cold impartiality of Macaulay has pointed out 
unanswerably that in all Henry's most questionable 
acts his own ministers and his prelates were active 
participants — that his Privy Council, his parliaments, 
his judges on the bench, the juries empanelled to try 
the victims of his tyranny, were equally his accom- 
plices; some actively assisting; the rest, if these acts 
were really criminal, permitting themselves to be 
bribed or terrified into acquiescence. The leading 
men of all descriptions, the nation itself, through the 



Contemporary Judgment. 9 

guilt of its representatives, were all stained in the 
same detestable colours. It may be said, indeed, that 
they were worse than the King himself. For the 
King at least may be pleaded the coarse temptations 
of a brutal nature ; but what palliation can be urged 
for the peers and judges who sacrificed Anne Boleyn, 
or More, or Fisher, according to the received hypo- 
thesis? Not even the excuse of personal fear of an 
all-powerful despot. For Henry had no Janissaries or 
Praetorians to defend his person or execute his orders. 
He had but his hundred yeomen of the guard, not 
more numerous than the ordinary followers of a sec- 
ond-rate noble. The Catholic leaders, who were in- 
furiated at his attacks upon the Church, and would 
if they could have introduced foreign armies to de- 
throne him, insisted on his weakness as an encourage- 
ment to an easy enterprise. Beyond those few yeomen 
they urged that he had no protection save in the at- 
tachment of the subjects whom he was alienating. 
What strange influence was such a king able to exer- 
cise that he could overawe the lords and gentry of 
England, the learned professions, the municipal au- 
thorities? How was it that he was able to compel 
them to be the voluntary instruments of his cruelty? 
Strangest of all, he seems to have needed no protec- 
tion, but rather to have been personally popular, even 
among those who disapproved his public policy. The 
air was charged with threats of insurrection, but no 
conspiracy was ever formed to kill him, like those 
which so often menaced the life of his daughter. 
When the North was in arms in the Pilgrimage of 
Grace, and a question rose among the leaders whether 
in the event of victory the King was to be deposed, 
it was found that anyone who proposed to remove him 
would be torn in pieces by the people. 



10 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Granting that Henry VIII. was, as Dickens said of 
him, u a spot of blood and grease" on the page of 
English history, the contemporary generation of Eng- 
lishmen must have been fit subjects of such a sover- 
eign. Every country, says Carlyle, gets as good a 
government as it deserves. The England of the 
Cromwells and the Cranmers, the Howards and the 
Fitzwilliams, the Wriothesleys and the Pagets, seems 
to have been made of baser materials than any land 
of which mankind has preserved a record. Roman 
Catholics may fairly plead that out of such a race no 
spiritual reform is likely to have arisen which could 
benefit any human soul. Of all the arguments which 
can be alleged for the return of England to the an- 
cient fold, this is surely the most powerful. 

Yet England shows no intention of returning. 
History may say what it pleases, yet England remains 
tenacious of the liberties which were then won for us, 
and unconscious of the disgrace attaching to them; 
unconscious, also, that the version of the story which 
it accepts contains anything which requires explana- 
tion. The legislation of Henry VIII. , his Privy 
Council, and his parliaments is the Magna Charta of 
the modern world. The Act of Appeals and the Act 
of Supremacy asserted the national independence, and 
repudiated the interference of foreign bishop, prince, 
or potentate within the limits of the English empire. 
The clergy had held for many centuries an imperijum 
in imperio. Subject themselves to no law but their 
own, they had asserted an irresponsible jurisdiction 
over the souls and bodies of the people. The Act for 
the submission of these persons reduced them to the 
common condition of subjects under the control of the 
law. Popes were no longer allowed to dispense with 
ordinary obligations. Clerical privileges were abol- 



Permanent Character of Henry's Legislation. 11 

ished. The spiritual courts, with their intolerable 
varieties of iniquity, were swept away, or coerced 
within rational limits. The religious houses were sup- 
pressed, their enormous wealth was applied for the 
defence of the realm, and the worse than Augean 
dunghill of abuses was cleared out with resolute hand. 
These great results were accomplished in the face of 
papal curses, in defiance of superstitious terrors, so 
despicable when bravely confronted, so terrible while 
the spectre of supernatural power was still unexer- 
cised ; in the face, too, of earthly perils which might 
make stout hearts shake, of an infuriated priesthood 
stirring the people into rebellion, of an exasperated 
Catholic Europe threatening fire and sword in the 
name of the Pope. These were distinguished achieve- 
ments, not likely to have been done at all by an infa- 
mous prince and infamous ministers ; yet done so well 
that their work is incorporated in the constitution 
almost in the form in which they left it; and this 
mighty revolution, the greatest and most far-reaching 
in modern times, was accomplished without a civil 
war, by firmness of hand, by the action of Parliament, 
and a resolute enforcement of the law. Nor has the 
effect of Henry's legislation been confined to England. 
Every great country, Catholic or Protestant, has prac- 
tically adopted its chief provisions. Popes no longer 
pretend a power of deposing princes, absolving sub- 
jects from their allegiance, or selling dispensations for 
offences against the law of the land. Appeals are no 
longer carried from the national courts to the court 
of the Rota. The papal treasury is no longer sup- 
plied by the plunder of the national clergy, collected 
by resident papal officials. Bishops and convocations 
have ceased to legislate above and independent of the 
secular authority, and clerks who commit crimes bear 



12 



The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 



the same penalties as the profane. The high quality 
of the Reformation statutes is guaranteed by their en- 
durance ; and it is hard to suppose that the politicians 
who conceived and carried them out were men of base 
conditions. The question is not of the character of 
the King. If nothing was at issue but the merits or 
demerits of a single sovereign, he might be left where 
he lies. The question is of the characters of the re- 
forming leaders, who, jointly with the King, were the 
authors of this tremendous and beneficent revolution. 
Henry in all that he did acted with these men and 
through them. Is it possible to believe that quali- 
ties so opposite as the popular theory requires existed 
in the same persons? Is it possible, for instance, that 
Cranmer, who composed or translated the prayers in 
the English Liturgy, was the miserable wretch which 
Macaulay or Lingard describes? The era of Eliza- 
beth was the outspring of the movement which Henry 
VIII. commenced, and it was the grandest period in 
English history. Is it credible that so invigorating 
a stream flowed from a polluted fountain? 

Before accepting a conclusion so disgraceful — be- 
fore consigning the men who achieved so great a vic- 
tory, and risked and lost their lives in the battle, to 
final execration — it is at least permissible to pause. 
The difficulty can only be made light of by impa- 
tience, by prejudice, or by want of thought. To me 
at any rate, who wished to discover what the real his- 
tory of the Reformation had been, it seemed so con- 
siderable, that, dismissing the polemical invectives of 
later writers, I turned to the accounts of their con- 
duct, which had been left behind by the authors of it 
themselves. Among the fortunate anomalies of the 
situation, Henry departed from previous custom in 
holding annual parliaments. At every step which he 



Historic Aspect of the Statute Booh. 13 

took, either in the rearrangement of the realm or in 
his own domestic confusions, he took the Lords and 
Commons into his council, and ventured nothing with- 
out their consent. The preambles of the principal 
statutes contain a narrative clear and precise of the 
motives of everything that he did — a narrative which 
at least may have been a true one, which was not put 
forward as a defence, but was a mere explanation of 
acts which on the surface seemed violent and arbi- 
trary. If the explanation is correct, it shows us a 
time of complications and difficulties, which, on the 
whole, were successfully encountered. It shows us 
severe measures severely executed, but directed to 
public and necessary purpose, involving no syco- 
phancy or baseness, no mean subservience to capri- 
cious tyranny, but such as were the natural safeguards 
during a dangerous convulsion, or remedies of acci- 
dents incidental to hereditary monarchy. The story 
told is clear and distinct ; pitiless, but not dishonour- 
able. Between the lines can be read the storm of 
popular passions, the beating of the national heart 
when it was stirred to its inmost depths. We see 
established institutions rooted out, idols overthrown, 
and injured worshippers exasperated to fury ; the air, 
as was inevitable at such a crisis, full of flying ru- 
mours, some lies, some half lies with fragments of 
truth attaching to them, bred of malice or dizzy 
brains, the materials out of which the popular tradi- 
tion has been built. It was no insular revolution. 
The stake played for was the liberty of mankind. All 
Europe was watching England, for England was the 
hinge on which the fate of the Eeformation turned. 
Could it be crushed in England, the Catholics were 
assured of universal victory, and therefore tongues 
and pens were busy everywhere throughout Christen- 



14 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

dora, Catholic imagination representing Henry as an 
incarnate Satan, for which, it must be admitted, his 
domestic misadventures gave them tempting opportu- 
nities. So thick fell the showers of calumny, that, 
bold as he was, he at times himself winced under it. 
He complained to Charles V. of the libels circulated 
about him in France and Flanders. Charles, too, 
had suffered in the same way. He answered, humor- 
ously, that " if kings gave occasion to be spoken about 
they would be spoken about ; kings were not kings of 
tongues." Henry VIII. was an easy mark for slan- 
der; but if all slanders are to pass as true which are 
flung at public men whose policy provides them with 
an army of calumniators, the reputation of the best of 
them is but a spotted rag. The clergy were the vocal 
part of Europe. They had the pulpits ; they had the 
writing of the books and pamphlets. They had cause 
to hate Henry, and they hated him with an intensity 
of passion which could not have been more savage had 
he been the devil himself. But there are men whose 
enmity is a compliment. They libelled Luther almost 
as freely as they libelled the English king. I myself, 
after reading and weighing all that I could find forty 
years ago in prints or manuscripts, concluded that the 
real facts of Henry's conduct were to be found in the 
Statute Book and nowhere else; that the preambles 
of the Acts of Parliament did actually represent the 
sincere opinion about him of the educated laymen of 
England, who had better opportunities of knowing 
the truth than we can have, and that a modern Eng- 
lishman may be allowed to follow their authority with- 
out the imputation of paradox or folly. 

With this impression, and with the Statute Book 
for a guide, I wrote the opening portion of my " His- 
tory of England, from the Fall of Wolsey to the De- 



Discovery of Unpublished Materials. 15 

feat of the Armada." The published criticisms upon 
my work were generally unfavourable. Catholic writ- 
ers inherited the traditions and the temper of their 
forefathers, and believed the catena of their own his- 
torians. Protestants coidd not believe in a defence 
of the author of the Six Articles Bill. Secidar re- 
viewers were easily witty at the "model husband" 
whom they supposed me to be imposing upon them, 
and resented the interference with a version of the 
story authenticated by great names among my prede- 
cessors. The public, however, took an interest in 
what I had to say. The book was read, and continues 
to be read; at the close of my life, therefore, I have 
to go once more over the ground ; and as I am still 
substantially alone in maintaining an opinion consid- 
ered heretical by orthodox historians, I have to decide 
in what condition I am to leave my work behind me. 
In the thirty-five years which have elapsed since those 
early volumes appeared large additions have been 
made to the materials for the history of the period. 
The vast collection of manuscripts in the English 
Record Office, which then were only partially accessi- 
ble, have been sorted, catalogued, and calendared by 
the industry of my friends Mr. Brewer and Mr. 
Gairdner. Private collections in great English houses 
have been examined and reported on by the Historical 
Manuscripts Commission. Foreign archives at Paris, 
Simancas, Rome, Venice, Vienna, and Brussels have 
been searched to some extent by myself, but in a far 
larger degree by able scholars specially appointed for 
the purpose. In the despatches, thus made accessible, 
of the foreign ambassadors resident at Henry's court 
we have the invaluable, if not impartial, comments of 
trained and responsible politicians who related from 
day to day the events which were passing under their 



16 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

eyes. Being Catholics, and representatives of Cath- 
olic powers, they were bitterly hostile to the Reforma- 
tion — hostile alike on political grounds and religious 
— and therefore inclined to believe and report the 
worst that could be said both of it and of its authors. 
But they wrote before the traditions had become ste- 
reotyped; their accounts are fresh and original; and, 
being men of the world, and writing in confidence 
to their own masters, they were as veracious as their 
prejudices would allow them to be. Unconsciously, 
too, they render another service of infinite importance. 
Being in close communication with the disaffected 
English peers and clergy, and engaged with them se- 
cretly in promoting rebellion, the ministers of Charles 
V. reveal with extraordinary clearness the dangers 
with which the Government had to deal. They make 
it perfectly plain that the Act of Supremacy, with its 
stern and peremptory demands, was no more than a 
legitimate and necessary defence against organised 
treason. 

It was thus inevitable that much would have to be 
added to what I had already published. When a 
microscope is applied to the petal of a flower or the 
wing of an insect, simple outlines and simple surfaces 
are resolved into complex organisms with curious and 
beautiful details. The effect of these despatches is 
precisely the same — we see with the eyes, we hear 
with the ears, of men who were living parts of the 
scenes which they describe. Stories afterwards elab- 
orated into established facts we trace to their origin in 
rumours of the hour; we read innumerable anecdotes, 
some with the clear stamp of truth on them, many 
mere creations of passing wit or malice, no more au- 
thentic than the thousands like them which circulate 
in modern society, guaranteed by the positive asser- 



Nature of Recent Discoveries. 17 

tions of personal witnesses, yet visibly recognisable as 
lies. Through all this the reader must pick his way 
and use his own judgment. He knows that many 
things are false which are reported about his own 
eminent contemporaries. He may be equally certain 
that lies were told as freely then as now. He will 
probably allow his sympathies to guide him. He will 
accept as fact what fits in with his creed or his theory. 
He will share the general disposition to believe evil, 
especially about kings and great men. The exagger- 
ated homage paid to princes, when they are alive, 
has to be compensated by suspecting the worst of them 
as soon as they are gone. But the perusal of all 
these documents leaves the broad aspect of the story, 
in my opinion, precisely where it was. It is made 
more interesting by the greater fulness of particulars; 
it is made more vivid by the clear view which they 
afford of individual persons who before were no more 
than names. But I think now, as I thought forty 
years ago, that through the confusions and contra- 
dictions of a stormy and angry time, the statute- 
book remains the safest guide to follow. If there be 
any difference, it is that actions which till explained 
appeared gratuitously cruel, like the execution of 
Bishop Fisher, are seen beyond dispute to have been 
reasonable and just. Bishop Fisher is proved by the 
words of the Spanish Ambassador himself to have 
invited and pressed the introduction of a foreign 
Catholic army into England in the Pope's interest. 

Thus I find nothing to withdraw in what I then 
wrote, and little to alter save in correcting some small 
errors of trivial moment; but, on the other hand, I 
find much to add ; and the question rises in what way 
I had better do it, with fair consideration for those 
who have bought the book as it stands. To take the 



18 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

work to pieces and introduce the new material into the 
text or the notes will impose a necessity of buying a 
new copy, or of being left with an inferior one, on 
the many friends who least deserve to be so treated. 
I have concluded, therefore, on writing an additional 
volume, where such parts of the story as have had im- 
portant light thrown upon them can be told over again 
in ampler form. The body of the history I leave as 
it stands. It contains what I believe to be a true 
account of the time, of the immediate causes which 
brought about the changes of the sixteenth century, 
and of the characters and principles of the actors in 
them. I have only to fill up certain deficiencies and 
throw light into places hitherto left dark. For the 
rest, I do not pretend to impartiality. I believe the 
Reformation to have been the greatest incident in 
English history; the root and source of the expansive 
force which has spread the Anglo-Saxon race over the 
globe, and imprinted the English genius and charac- 
ter on the constitution of mankind. I am unwilling 
to believe more evil than I can help of my countrymen 
who accomplished so beneficent a work, and in a book 
written with such convictions the mythical element 
cannot be wholly wanting. Even things which imme- 
diately surround us, things which we see and touch, 
we do not perceive as they are ; we perceive only our 
own sensations, and our sensations are a combined 
result of certain objects and of the faculties which ap- 
prehend them. Something of ourselves must always 
be intermixed before knowledge can reach us; in 
every conclusion which we form, in every conviction 
which is forced upon us, there is still a subjective ele- 
ment. It is so in physical science. It is so in art. 
It is so in our speculations on our own nature. It is 
so in religion. It is so even in pure mathematics. 



TJie Subjective in History. 19 

The curved and rectilineal figures on which we reason 
are our own creation, and have no existence exterior 
to the reasoning mind. Most of all is it so in history, 
where we have no direct perceptions to help us, but 
are dependent on the narratives of others whose beliefs 
were necessarily influenced by their personal disposi- 
tions. The first duty of an historian is to be on his 
guard against his own sympathies; but he cannot 
wholly escape their influence. In judging of the truth 
of particular statements, the conclusion which he will 
form must be based partly upon evidence and partly 
upon what he conceives to be likely or unlikely. In 
a court of justice, where witnesses can be cross-exam- 
ined, uncertain elements can in some degree be elim- 
inated ; yet, after all care is taken, judges and juries 
have been often blinded by passion and prejudice. 
When we have nothing before us but rumours set in 
circulation, we know not by whom or on what author- 
ity, and we are driven to consider probabilities, the 
Protestant, who believes the Reformation to have been 
a victory of truth over falsehood, cannot come to the 
same conclusion as the Catholic, who believes it to 
have been a curse, or perhaps to the same conclusion 
as the indifferent philosopher, who regards Protestant 
and Catholic alike with benevolent contempt. For 
myself, I can but say that I have discriminated with 
such faculty as I possess. I have kept back nothing. 
I have consciously distorted nothing which conflicts 
with my own views. I have accepted what seems suffi- 
ciently proved. I have rejected what I can find no sup- 
port for save in hearsay or prejudice. But whether 
accepting or rejecting, I have endeavoured to follow 
the rule that incidents must not be lightly accepted 
as authentic which are. inconsistent with the universal 
laws of human nature, and that to disprove a calumny 



20 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

it is sufficient to show that there is no valid witness 
for it. 

Finally, I do not allow myself to be tempted into 
controversy with particular writers whose views disa- 
gree with my own. To contradict in detail every hos- 
tile version of Henry VIII. 's or his ministers' conduct 
would be as tedious as it would be irritating and un- 
profitable*. My censors have been so many that a reply 
to them all is impossible, and so distinguished that a 
selection would be invidious. Those who wish for 
invectives against the King, or Cranmer, or Cromwell, 
can find them everywhere, from school manuals to the 
grave works of elaborate historians. For me, it is 
enough to tell the story as it presents itself to my own 
mind, and to leave what appears to me to be the truth 
to speak for itself. 

The English nation throughout their long history 
have borne an honourable reputation. Luther quotes 
a saying of Maximilian that there were three real sov- 
ereigns in Europe — the Emperor, the King of France, 
and the King of England. The Emperor was a king 
of kings. If he gave an order to the princes of the 
Reich, they obeyed or disobeyed as they pleased. The 
King of France was a king of asses. He ordered about 
his people at his will, and they obeyed like asses. 
The King of England was king of a loyal nation who 
obeyed him with heart and mind as^oyal and faithful 
subjects. This was the character borne in the world 
by the fathers of the generation whom popular histo- 
rians represent as having dishonoured themselves by 
subserviency to a bloodthirsty tyrant. It is at least 
possible that popular historians have been mistaken, 
and that the subjects of Henry VIII. were neither 
much better nor much worse than those who preceded 
or came after them. 



CHAPTER I. 

Prospects of a disputed succession to the crown — Various claimants — 
Catherine incapable of having further children — Irregularity of her 
marriage with the King — Papal dispensations — First mention of the 
divorce — Situation of the Papacy — Charles V. — Policy of Wolsey 
— Anglo-French alliance — Imperial troops in Italy — Appeal of the 
Pope — Mission of Inigo de Mendoza — The Bishop of Tarbes — 
Legitimacy of the Princess Mary called in question — Secret meet- 
ing of the Legates' court — Alarms of Catherine — Sack of Rome 
by the Duke of Bourbon — Proposed reform of the Papacy — The 
divorce promoted by Wolsey — Unpopular in England — Attempts 
of the Emperor to gain Wolsey. 

In the year 1526 the political prospects of England 
became seriously clouded. A disputed succession had 
led in the previous century to a desperate civil war. 
In that year it became known in private circles that if 
Henry VIII. was to die the realm would again be left 
without a certain heir, and that the strife of the Roses 
might be renewed on an even more distracting scale. 
The sons who had been born to Queen Catherine had 
died in childbirth or had died immediately after it. 
The passionate hope of the country that she might still 
produce a male child who would survive had been 
constantly disappointed, and now could be entertained 
no longer. She was eight years older than her hus- 
band. She had "certain diseases " which made it im- 
possible that she should be again pregnant, and Henry 
had for two years ceased to cohabit with her. He 
had two children still living — the Princess Mary, 
Catherine's daughter, then a girl of eleven, and an 
illegitimate son born in 1519, the mother being a 
daughter of Sir John Blount, and married afterwards 



22 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

to Sir Gilbert Talboys. By presumptive law the 
Princess was the next heir; but no woman had ever 
sat on the throne of England alone and in her own 
right, and it was doubtful whether the nation would 
submit to a female sovereign. The boy, though ex- 
cluded by his birth from the prospect of the crown, 
was yet brought up with exceptional care, called a 
prince by his tutors, and probably regarded by his 
father as a possible successor should his sister go the 
way of her brothers. In 1525, after the King had 
deliberately withdrawn from Catherine, he was cre- 
ated Duke of Richmond — a title of peculiar signifi- 
cance, since it had been borne by his grandfather, 
Henry VII. — and he was granted precedence over 
the rest of the peerage. Illegitimacy was a serious, 
but, it might be thought, was not an absolute, bar. 
The Conqueror had been himself a bastard. The 
Church, by its habits of granting dispensations for 
irregular marriages or of dissolving them on pleas of 
affinity or consanguinity or other pretext, had confused 
the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate. 
A Church Court had illegitimatised the children of 
Edward IV. and Elizabeth Grey, on the ground of 
one of Edward's previous connections; yet no one re- 
garded the princes murdered in the Tower as having 
been illegitimate in reality; and to prevent disputes 
and for an adequate object, the Duke of Richmond, 
had he grown to manhood, might, in the absence of 
other claims, have been recognised by Parliament. 
But the Duke was still a child, and might die as 
Henry's other sons had died; and other claims there 
were which, in the face of the bar sinister, could not 
fail to be asserted. James V. of Scotland was next 
in blood, being the son of Henry's eldest sister, Mar- 
garet. There were the Greys, inheriting from the sec- 



Prospect of a Disputed Succession. 23 

ond sister, Mary. Outside the royal house there were 
the still popular representatives of the White Rose, 
the Marquis of Exeter, who was Edward IV. 's 
grandson; the Countess of Salisbury, daughter of Ed- 
ward's brother the Duke of Clarence, and sister of 
the murdered Earl of Warwick; and Henry's life was 
the only obstacle between the collision of these oppos- 
ing* pretensions. James, it was quite certain, would 
not be allowed to succeed without a struggle. Na- 
tional rivalry forbade it. Yet it was no less certain 
that he would try, and would probably be backed by 
France. There was but one escape from convulsions 
which might easily be the ruin of the realm. The 
King was in the flower of his age, and might naturally 
look for a Prince of Wales to come after him if he 
was married to a woman capable of bearing one. It 
is neither unnatural nor, under the circumstances, a 
matter to be censured if he and others began to reflect 
upon the peculiar character of his connection with 
Catherine of Aragon. It is not sufficiently remem- 
bered that the marriage of a widow with her husband's 
brother was then, as it is now, forbidden by the laws 
of all civilised countries. Such a marriage at the 
present day would be held ipso facto invalid and not a 
marriage at all. An irregular power was then held to 
rest with the successors of St. Peter to dispense, under 
certain conditions, with the inhibitory rules. The 
popes are now understood to have never rightly pos- 
sessed such an authority, and therefore, according to 
modern law and sentiment, Henry and Catherine never 
were husband and wife at all. At the time it was un- 
certain whether the dispensing power extended so far 
as to sanction such a union, and when the discussion 
rose upon it the Roman canonists were themselves di- 
vided. Those who maintained the widest view of the 



24 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

papal faculty yet agreed that such a dispensation could 
only be granted for urgent cause, such as to prevent 
foreign wars or internal seditions, and no such cause 
was alleged to have existed when Ferdinand and 
Henry VII. arranged the marriage between their chil- 
dren. The dispensation had been granted by Pope 
Julius with reluctance, had been acted upon after con- 
siderable hesitation, and was of doubtful validity, since 
the necessary conditions were absent. The marriages 
of kings were determined with little reference to the 
personal affection of the parties. Between Henry and 
Catherine there was probably as much and as little 
personal attachment as there usually is in such cases. 
He respected and perhaps admired her character; 
but she was not beautiful, she was not attractive, 
while she was as proud and intractable as her mother 
Isabella. Their union had been settled by the two 
fathers to cement the alliance between England and 
Spain. Such connections rest on a different founda- 
tion from those which are voluntarily entered into be- 
tween private persons. What is made up for political 
reasons may pardonably be dissolved when other rea- 
sons of a similar kind require it; and when it became 
clear that Catherine could never bear another child, 
that the penalty threatened in the Levitical law 
against marriages of this precise kind had been liter- 
ally enforced in the death of the male offspring, and 
that civil war was imminent in consequence upon the 
King's death, Henry may have doubted in good faith 
whether she had ever been his wife at all — whether, 
in fact, the marriage was not of the character which 
everyone woidd now allow to attach to similar unions. 
Had there been a Prince of Wales, the question would 
never have arisen, and Henry, like other kings, would 
have borne his fate. But there was no prince, and 



First Mention of the Divorce. 25 

the question had risen, and there was no reason why 
it should not. There was no trace at the outset of an 
attachment to another woman. If there had been, 
there would be little to condemn; but Anne Boleyn, 
when it was first mooted, was no more to the King 
than any other lady of the court. He required a wife 
who could produce a son to secure the succession. 
The powers which had allowed an irregular marriage 
could equally dissolve it, and the King felt that he 
had a right to demand a familiar concession which 
other sovereigns had often applied for in one form or 
another, and rarely in vain. 

Thus as early as 1526 certainly, and probably as 
much as a year before, Cardinal Wolsey had been 
feeling his way at Rome for a separation between 
Henry and Catherine. On September 7 in that year 
the Bishop of Bath, who was English Ambassador at 
Paris, informed the Cardinal of the arrival there of 
a confidential agent of Pope Clement VII. The agent 
had spoken to the Bishop on this especial subject, and 
had informed him that there would be difficulties 
about it. 1 The "blessed divorce" — benedictum di- 
vorcium the Bishop calls it — had been already under 
consideration at Rome. The difficulties were not 
specified, but the political features of the time obliged 
Clement to be circumspect, and it was these that were 
probably referred to. Francis I. had been defeated 
and taken prisoner by the Imperialists at Pavia. He 
had been carried to Spain, and had been released at 
Henry's intercession, under severe conditions, to 
which he had reluctantly consented, and his sons had 
been left at Madrid as hostages for the due fulfilment 
of them. The victorious army, half Spanish, half 

1 Calendar of State Papers, lien. V III., Foreian and Domestic, vol. 
iv. Introduction, p. 223. 



26 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

German, remained under the Duke of Bourbon to 
complete the conquest of Italy ; and Charles V. , with 
his already vast dominions and a treasury which the 
world believed to be inexhaustibly supplied from the 
gold mines of the New World, seemed advancing to 
universal empire. 

France in the preceding centuries had been the he- 
reditary enemy of England; Spain and Burgundy her 
hereditary friends. The marriage of Catherine of 
Aragon had been a special feature of the established 
alliance. She was given first to Prince Arthur, and 
then to Henry, as a link in the confederacy which 
was to hold in check French ambition. Times were 
changing. Charles V. had been elected emperor, 
largely through English influence; but Charles was 
threatening to be a more serious danger to Europe 
than France had been. The Italian princes were too 
weak to resist the conqueror of Pavia. Italy once 
conquered, the Papacy would become a dependency of 
the empire, and, with Charles's German subjects in 
open revolt against it, the Church woidd lose its au- 
thority, and the organisation of the Catholic world 
would fall into hopeless decrepitude. So thought 
Wolsey, the most sharp-sighted of English ministers. 
He believed that the maintenance of the Papacy was 
the best defence of order and liberty. The only remedy 
which he could see was a change of partners. Eng- 
land held the balance between the great rival powers. 
If the English alliance could be transferred from the 
Empire to France, the Emperor could be held in 
check, and his supposed ambition neutralised. Wol- 
sey was utterly mistaken; but the mistake was not 
an unnatural one. Charles, busy with his Italian 
wars, had treated the Lutheran schism with suspicious 
forbearance. Notwithstanding his Indian ingots his 



The Pope and the Emperor. 27 

finances were disordered. Bourbon's lansquenets had 
been left to pay themselves by plunder. They had 
sacked monasteries, pillaged cathedral plate, and rav- 
ished nuns with irreverent ferocity. The estates of 
the Church had been as little spared by them as Lom- 
bardy; and to Clement VII. the invasion was another 
inroad of barbarians, and Bourbon a second Attila. 
What Bourbon's master meant by it, and what he 
might intend to do, was as uncertain to Clement as 
perhaps it was to Charles himself. In the prostrate, 
degraded, and desperate condition into which the 
Church was falling, any resolution was possible. To 
the clearest eyes in Europe the Papacy seemed totter- 
ing to its fall, and Charles's hand, if he chose to raise 
it, might precipitate the catastrophe. To ask a pope 
at such a time to give mortal offence to the Spanish 
nation by agreeing to the divorce of Catherine of 
Aragon was to ask him to sign his death-warrant. 
No wonder, therefore, that he found difficulties. Yet 
it was to France and England that Clement had to 
look for help in his extremities. The divorce perhaps 
had as yet been no more than a suggestion, a part of 
a policy which was still in its infancy. It could wait 
at any rate for a more convenient season. Meantime 
he sent his secretary, Sanga, to Paris to beg aid; 
and to Henry personally lie made a passionate appeal, 
imploring him not to desert the Apostolic See in its 
hour of extreme need. He apologised for his impor- 
tunacy, but he said he hoped that history would not 
have to record that Italy had been devastated in the 
time of Clement VII. to the dishonour of the King and 
of Wolsey. If France and England failed him, he 
would himself be ruined. The Emperor would be 
universal monarch. They would open their eyes at 
last, but they would open them too late. So piteous 



28 Tlie Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

was the entreaty that Henry when he read the Pope's 
letter burst into tears. 1 Clement had not been idle. 
He had brought his own small army into the held to 
oppose Bourbon; he joined the Italian League, and 
prepared to defend himself, lie was called the father 
of Christendom, yet he was at open war with the most 
Catholic king. But Wolsey reasonably considered 
that unless the Western powers interfered the end 
would come. 

If England was to aet, she could aet only in alliance 
with France. The change of policy was ill under- 
stood, and was not popular among Henry's subjects. 
The divorce as yet had not been spoken of. No breath 
of such a purpose had gone abroad. But English 
sentiment was imperial, and could endure with equa- 
nimity even the afflictions of a pope. The King was 
more papal than his people : he allowed AVolsey to 
guide him, and negotiations were set on foot at once 
for a special treaty with France, one of the conditions 
of which was to be the marriage of the Princess Mary 
— allotted like a card in a game — either to Francis 
or to one of his sons; another condition being that the 
English crown should be settled upon her should 
Henry die without a legitimate son. Sir John Rus- 
sell was simultaneously despatched to Rome with 
money to help the Pope in paying his troops and gar- 
risoning the eity. The ducats and the ""kind words" 
which accompanied them "'created incredible joy," 
encouraged his Holiness to reject unjust conditions 
which had been offered, and restored him, if for the 
moment only, '"from death to life." 2 If Russell de- 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, II, n. V III., vol. iv. p. 1112. — 
Hen. VIII. to Clement VII.. Oct. 23, 1526.— Jb. p. 1H5. Giberto to 
Gambara, Dec. 20, 1526. — lb. p. 1207. 

- Giberto, Bishop of Verona, to Wolsey, Feb. 10, 1327. — Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. pp. 1282-3. 



The Imperialists in Italy. 

scribed correctly what he saw in passing through 
Italy, Clement had good cause for anxiety. "The 
Swabians and Spaniards."' In- wrote "had committed 
horrible atrocities. They had burnt houses to the 
value of two hundred million ducats, with all the 
churches, images, and priests that fell into their hand.-. 
They had compelled the priests and monks to violate 
the nuns. Even where they were received without 
opposition they had burned the place; they had not 
spared the hoys, and they had carried off the girls; 
and whenever they found the Sacrament of the 
Church they had thrown it into a river or into the 
vilest place they could find. If God did not punish 
such cruelty and wickedness, men would infer that 
He did not trouble Himself about the affairs of this 
world." 1 

The- news from Italy gave a fresh impulse to Wol- 
sey's policy and the Anglo-French Alliance, which 
was pushed forward in spite of popular disapproval. 
The Emperor, unable to pay, and therefore unable to 
control, his troops, became himself alarmed. He 
found himself pressed into a course which was stimu- 
lating the German revolt against the Papacy, and he 
professed himself anxious to end the war. Inigo de 
Mendoza, the Bishop of Burgos, was despatched to 
Paris to negotiate for a general pacification. From 
Paris he was to proceed to London to assure Henry of 
the Emperor's inalienable friendship, and above all 
things to gain over Wolsey by the means wlich expe- 
rience had shown to be the nearest way to ^ olsey's 
heart. The great Cardinal was already Charles's 
pensionary, but the pension was several years in ar- 
rear. Mendoza was to tell him not only that the 

1 Giberto, Bishop of Verona, to Wolsey, Feb. 10, \~>1~. — Calendar 

Foreign arid Domestic, April -!'J. 15J7, vol. iv. p. 1386. 



30 The Divorce of Gather hie of Aragon. 

arrears should be immediately paid up, but that a 
second pension should be secured to him on the reve- 
nues of Milan, and that the Emperor would make 
him a further grant of 6,000 ducats annually out of 
the income of Spanish bishoprics. No means was 
to be spared to divert the hostility of so dangerous an 
enemy. 1 

Wolsey was not to be so easily gained. He had 
formed large schemes which he did not mean to part 
with, and in the matter of pensions Francis I. was as 
liberal in promises as Charles. The Pope's prospects 
were brightening. Besides the English money, he had 
improved his finances by creating six new cardinals, 
and making 240,000 crowns out of the disposition of 
these sacred offices. 2 A French embassy, with the 
Bishop of Tarbes at its head, came to England to 
complete the treaty with Henry in the Pope's defence. 
Demands were to be made upon the Emperor ; if those 
demands were refused, war was to follow, and the ce- 
ment of the alliance was to be the marriage of Mary 
with a French prince. It is likely that other secret 
projects were in view also of a similar kind. The 
marriage of Henry with Catherine had been intended 
to secure the continuance of the alliance with Spain. 
Royal ladies were the counters with which politicians 
played; and probably enough there were thoughts of 
placing a French princess in Catherine's place. How- 
ever this may be, the legality of the King's marriage 
with his nominal queen was suddenly and indirectly 
raised in the discussion of the terms of the treaty, 
when the Bishop of Tarbes inquired whether it was 
certain that Catherine's daughter was legitimate. 

1 Iiiigo de Mendoza to the Emperor, Jan. 19, 1527. — Spanish Calen- 
dar, vol. iii. pt. 2, p. 24. 

2 Alonzo Sanchez to Charles V., May 7, 1527. — lb. p. 176, 



The Treaty with France. 31 

Mr. Brewer, the careful and admirable editor of 
the "Foreign and Domestic Calendar of State Pa- 
pers," doubts whether the Bishop did anything of the 
kind. I cannot agree with Mr. Brewer. The Bishop 
of Tarbes was among the best-known diplomatists in 
Europe. He was actively concerned during subse- 
quent years in the process of the divorce case in Lon- 
don, in Paris, and at Rome. The expressions which 
he used on this occasion were publicly appealed to by 
Henry in his addresses to the peers and to the coun- 
try, in the public pleas which he laid before the Eng- 
lish prelates, in the various repeated defences which 
he made for his conduct. It is impossible that the 
Bishop should have been ignorant of the use which 
was made of his name, and impossible equally to sup- 
pose that he would have allowed his name to be used 
unfairly. The Bishop of Tarbes was unquestionably 
the first person to bring the question publicly forward. 
It is likely enough, however, that his introduction of 
so startling a topic had been privately arranged be- 
tween himself and Wolsey as a prelude to the further 
steps which were immediately to follow. For the di- 
vorce had by this time been finally resolved on as part 
of a general scheme for the alteration of the balance of 
power. The domestic reasons for it were as weighty 
as ever were alleged for similar separations. The 
Pope's hesitation, it might be assumed, would now be 
overcome, since he had flung himself for support upon 
England and France, and his relations with the Em- 
peror could hardly be worse than they were. 

The outer world, and even the persons principally 
concerned, were taken entirely by surprise. For the 
two years during which it had been under considera- 
tion the secret had been successfully preserved. Not 
a hint had reached Catherine herself, and even when 



32 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

the match had been lighted by the Bishop of Tarbes 
the full meaning of it does not seem to have occurred 
to her. Mendoza, on his arrival in England, had 
found her disturbed; she was irritated at the position 
which had been given to the Duke of Richmond ; she 
was angry, of course, at the French alliance ; she com- 
plained that she was kept in the dark about public 
affairs; she was exerting herself to the utmost among 
the friends of the imperial connection to arrest Wol- 
sey's policy and maintain the ancient traditions; but 
of the divorce she had not heard a word. It was to 
come upon her like a thunderstroke. 1 

Before the drama opens a brief description will not 
be out of place of the two persons who were to play the 
principal parts on the stage, as they were seen a year 
later by Ludovico Falieri, the Venetian ambassador 
in England. Of Catherine his account is brief. 

"The Queen is of low stature and rather stout; 
very good and very religious; speaks Spanish, 
French, Flemish, and English; more beloved by the 
Islanders than any queen that has ever reigned; 
about forty-five years old, and has been in England 
thirty years. She has had two sons and one daughter. 
Both the sons died in infancy. One daughter sur- 
vives." 

On the King, Falieri is more elaborate. 

" In the 8th Henry such beauty of mind and body 
is combined as to surprise and astonish. Grand 
stature, suited to his exalted position, showing the 
superiority of mind and character; a face like an an- 
gel's, so fair it is; his head bald like Caesar's, and 
he wears a beard, which is not the English custom. 
He is accomplished in every manly exercise, sits his 

1 Mendoza to Charles V., March 18, 1527. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iii. part 2, p. 110, 



Preliminary. 33 

horse well, tilts with his lance, throws the quoit, 
shoots with his bow excellent well ; he is a fine tennis 
player, and he practises all these gifts with the great- 
est industry. Such a prince could not fail to have 
cultivated also his character and his intellect. He 
has been a student from his childhood; he knows lit- 
erature, philosophy, and theology ; speaks and writes 
Spanish, French, and Italian, besides Latin and Eng- 
lish. He is kind, gracious, courteous, liberal, espe- 
cially to men of learning, whom he is always ready to 
help. He appears religious also, generally hears two 
masses a day, and on holy days High Mass besides. 
He is very charitable, giving away ten thousand gold 
ducats annually among orphans, widows, and crip- 
ples." 1 

Such was the King, such the Queen, whom fate and 
the preposterous pretensions of the Papacy to dis- 
pense with the established marriage laws had irregu- 
larly mated, and whose separation was to shake the 
European world. Pope Clement complained in sub- 
sequent years that the burden of decision should have 
been thrown in the first instance upon himself. If 
the King had proceeded at the outset to try the ques- 
tion in the English courts; if a judgment had been 
eriven unfavourable to the marriage, and had he imme- 
diately acted upon it, Queen Catherine might have 
appealed to the Holy See ; but accomplished facts were 
solid things. Her case might have been indefinitely 
protracted by legal technicalities till it died of itself. 
It would have been a characteristic method of escape 
out of the difficulty, and it was a view which Wolsey 
himself perhaps at first entertained. He knew that 
the Pope was unwilling to take the first step. 

1 Report from England, Nov. 10, 1531.— Venetian Calendar. Fa- 
lieri arrived in England in 1528, and the general parts of the Report 
cover the intervening period. 



34 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

On the 17th of May, 1527, after a discussion of the 
Treaty with France, he called a meeting of his Lega- 
tine court at York Place. Archbishop Warham sate 
with him as assessor. The King attended, and the 
Cardinal, having stated that a question had arisen on 
the lawfulness of his marriage, enquired whether the 
King, for the sake of public morals and the good of his 
own soid, woidd allow the objections to be examined 
into. The King assented, and named a proctor. 
The Bull of Julius II. was introduced and considered. 
Wolsey declared that in a case so intricate the canon 
lawyers must be consulted, and he asked for the opin- 
ions of the assembled bishops. The bishops, one only 
excepted, gave dubious answers. The aged Bishop of 
Rochester, reputed the holiest and wisest of them, 
said decidedly that the marriage was good, and the 
Bull which legalised it sufficient. 

These proceedings were not followed up, but the se- 
crecy which had hitherto been observed was no longer 
possible, and Catherine and her friends learnt now for 
the first time the measure which was in contemplation. 
Mendoza, writing on the day following the York 
Place meeting to the Emperor, informed him, as a fact 
which he had learnt on reliable authority, that Wol- 
sey, for a final stroke of wickedness, was scheming 
to divorce the Queen. She was so much alarmed that 
she did not venture herself to speak of it, but it was 
certain that the lawyers and bishops had been invited 
to sign a declaration that, being his brother's widow, 
she could not be the wife of the King. The Pope, she 
was afraid, might be tempted to take part against 
her, or the Cardinal himself might deliver judgment 
as Papal Legate. Pier one hope was in the Emperor. 
The cause of the action taken against her was her 
fidelity to the Imperial interests. Nothing as yet had 



Capture and Sack of Home. 35 

been made formally public, and she begged that the 
whole matter might be kept as private as possible. 1 

That the Pope would be willing, if he dared, to 
gratify Henry at Charles's expense was only too 
likely. The German Lutherans and the German 
Emperor were at the moment his most dangerous 
enemies. France and England were the only Powers 
who seemed willing to assist him, and a week before 
the meeting of Wolsey's court he had experienced in 
the most terrible form what the imperial hostility 
might bring upon him. On the 7th of that same 
month of May the army of the Duke of Bourbon had 
taken Rome by storm. The city was given up to pil- 
lage. Reverend cardinals were dragged through the 
streets on mules' backs, dishonoured and mutilated. 
Convents of nuns were abandoned to the licentious 
soldiery. The horrors of the capture may have been 
exaggerated, but it is quite certain that to holy things 
or holy persons no respect was paid, and that the 
atrocities which in those days were usually perpe- 
trated in stormed towns were on this occasion emi- 
nently conspicuous. The unfortunate Pope, shut up 
in the Castle of St. Angelo, looked down from its 
battlements upon scenes so dreadful that it must have 
appeared as if the Papacy and the Church itself had 
been overtaken by the final judgment. We regard 
the Spaniards as a nation of bigots, we consider it im- 
possible that the countrymen of Charles and Philip 
could have been animated by any such bitterness 
against the centre of Catholic Christendom. Charles 
himself is not likely to have intended the humiliation 
of the Holy See. But Clement had reason for his 
misgivings, and Wolsey's policy was not without 

1 Inig-o de Mendoza to Charles V., May 18, 1527. — Spanish Calendar^ 
vol. iii. part 2, p. 193. 



86 TJie Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

excuse. Lope cle Soria was Charles's Minister at 
Genoa, and Lope cle Soria' s opinions, freely uttered, 
may have been shared by many a Catholic besides 
himself. On the 25th of May, a fortnight after the 
storm, he wrote to his master the following noticeable 
letter : — 

"The sack of Rome must be regarded as a visita- 
tion from God, who permits his servant the Emperor 
to teach his Vicar on earth and other Christian 
princes that their wicked purposes shall be defeated, 
the unjust wars which they have raised shall cease, 
peace be restored to Christendom, the faith be exalted, 
and heresy extirpated. . . . Should the Emperor 
think that the Church of God is not what it ought to 
be, and that the Pope's temporal power emboldens 
him to promote Avar among Christian princes, I can- 
not but remind your Majesty that it will not be a sin, 
but a meritorious action, to reform the Church; so 
that the Pope's authority be confined exclusively to 
his own spiritual affairs, and temporal affairs to be 
left to Caesar, since by right what is God's belongs to 
God, and what is Caesar's to Caesar. I have been 
twenty-eight years in Italy, and I have observed that 
the Popes have been the sole cause of all the wars and 
miseries during that time. Your Imperial Majesty, 
as Supreme Lord on earth, is bound to apply a rem- 
edy to that evil." l 

Heretical English and Germans were not the only 
persons who could recognise the fitness of the secular 
supremacy of princes over popes and Churches. Such 
thoughts must have passed through the mind of 
Charles himself, and of many more besides him. De 
Soria' s words might have been dictated by Luther or 

1 Lope de Soria to Charles V., May 25, 1527, — Spanish Calendar, 
vol. iii. part 2, p. 209, 



Policy of Wolsey. 37 

Thomas Cromwell. Had the Emperor at that moment 
placed himself at the head of the Reformation, all 
later history would have been different. One states- 
man at any rate had cause to fear that this might be 
what was about to happen. Wolsey was the embodi- 
ment of everything most objectionable and odious to 
the laity in the ecclesiastical administration of Europe. 
To defend the Papacy and to embarrass Charles was 
the surest method of protecting - himself and his order. 
The divorce was an incident in the situation, but not 
the least important. Catherine represented the Impe- 
rialist interest in England. To put her away was to 
make the breach with her countrymen and kindred 
irreparable. He took upon himself to assure the 
King that after the last outrage the Pope would agree 
to anything that France and England demanded of 
him, and would trust to his allies to bear him harm- 
less. That the divorce was a thing reasonable in it- 
self to ask for, and certain to be conceded by any 
pope who was free to act on his own judgment, was 
assumed as a matter of course. Sir Gregory Casalis, 
the English agent at Rome, was instructed to obtain 
access to Clement in St. Angelo, to convey to him the 
indignation felt in England at his treatment, and then 
to insist on the illegality of the King's relations with 
Catherine, on the King's own scruples of conscience, 
and on the anxiety of his subjects that there should 
be a male heir to the crown. The "urgent cause" 
such as was necessary to be produced when excep- 
tional actions were required of the popes was the im- 
minence or even certainty of civil war if no such heir 
was born. 

Catherine meanwhile had again communiated with 
Mendoza. She had spoken to her husband, and 
Henry, since further reticence was impossible, had 



38 TIi e Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

told her that they had been living in mortal sin, and 
that a separation was necessary. A violent scene 
had followed, with natural tears and reproaches. 1 
The King endeavoured to console her, but it was not 
a matter where consolation could avail. Wolsey ad- 
vised him to deal with her gently, till it was seen 
what the Pope and the King of France would do in 
the matter. Wolsey himself was to go immediately 
to Paris to see Francis, and consult with him on the 
measures necessary to be taken in consequence of the 
Pope's imprisonment. It was possible that Clement, 
finding himself helpless, might become a puppet in 
the Emperor's hands. Under such circumstances he 
could not be trusted by other countries with the spir- 
itual authority attaching to his office, and schemes 
were being formed for some interim arrangement by 
which France and England were to constitute them- 
selves into a separate patriarchate, with Wolsey at its 
head as Archbishop of Rouen. Mendoza says that 
this proposal had been actually made to Wolsey by 
the French Ambassador. 2 In Spain it was even be- 
lieved to be contemplated as a permanent modification 
of the ecclesiastical system. The Imperial Council- 
lors at Valladolid told the Venetian Minister that the 
Cardinal intended to separate the Churches of Eng- 
land and France from that of Rome, saying that as 
the Pope was a prisoner he was not to be obeyed, 
and that even if the Emperor released him, he still 
would not be free unless his fortresses and territory 
now in the Emperor's hands were restored to him. 3 
Wolsey had reason for anxiety, for Catherine and 

1 Mendoza to Charles V., July 13, 1527. — Spanish Calendar, vol. ii. 
part 2, p. 276. 

2 lb. vol. iii. part 2, p. 273. 

3 Andrea Navagero to the Signory, July 17, 1527. — Venetian Calen- 
dar, 



English Opinion. 39 

Mentloza were writing to the Emperor insisting that 
he should make the Pope revoke Wolsey's Legatine 
powers. 

In spite of efforts to keep seeret the intended di- 
vorce, it soon became known thoughout England. 
The Queen was personally popular. The nation gen- 
erally detested France, and looked on the Emperor as 
their hereditary friend. The reasons for the divorce 
might influence statesmen, hut did not touch the body 
of the people. They naturally took the side of an in- 
jured wife, and if Mendoza can be believed (and there 
is no reason why he should not be believed), the first 
impression was decidedly unfavourable to a project 
which was regarded as part of the new policy. Men- 
doza made the most of the opposition. He told the 
Emperor that if six or seven thousand men were 
landed in Cornwall, forty thousand Englishmen would 
rise and join them. 1 He saw Wolsey — he reasoned 
with him, and when he found reason ineffectual, he 
named the bribe which the Emperor was willing to 
give. Knowing what Francis was bidding, he baited 
his hook more liberally. He spoke of the Papacy: 
"how the chair was now in the Emperor's hands, and 
the Emperor, if Wolsey deserved it, would no doubt 
promote his elevation." The glittering temptation 
was unavailing. The papal chair had been Wolsey's 
highest ambition, but he remained unmoved. He 
said that he had served the Emperor in the past out 
of disinterested regard. He still trusted that the Em- 
peror would replace the Pope and restore the Church. 
Mendoza' s answer was not reassuring to an English 
statesman. He said that both the spiritual and tem- 
poral powers were now centred in his master, and 
he advised Wolsey, if he desired an arrangement, to 

1 Mendoza to Charles V., July 17, 1527. — Spanish Calendar. 



40 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

extend his journey from France, go on to Spain, and 
see the Emperor in person. It was precisely this 
centering which those who had charge of English lib- 
erties had a right to resent. Divorce or no divorce, 
they could not allow a power possessed of so much 
authority in the rest of Christendom to be the servant 
of a single prince. The divorce was "but an illustra- 
tion of the situation, and such a Papacy as Mendoza 
contemplated would reduce England and all Catholic- 
Europe into fiefs of the Empire. 



CHAPTER II. 

Mission of Wolsey to Paris — Visits Bishop Fisher on the way — Anx- 
ieties of the Emperor — Letter of the Emperor to Henry VIII. — 
Large offers to Wolsey — Address of the French Cardinals to the 
Pope — Anne Boleyn chosen hy Henry to succeed Catherine — Sur- 
prise and displeasure of Wolsey — Fresh attempts of the Emperor to 
bribe him — Wolsey forced to continue to advocate the divorce — 
Mission of Dr. Knight to Rome — The Pope at Orvieto — The King 
applies for a dispensation to make a second marriage — Language 
of the dispensation demanded — Inferences drawn from it — Al- 
leged intrigue between the King and Mary Boleyn. 

It was believed, at the time — and it was the tradi- 
tion afterwards — that Wolsey, in his mission to 
Paris, intended to replace Catherine by a French 
princess, the more surely to commit Francis to the 
support of Henry in the divorce, and to strengthen 
the new alliance. Nothing can be inherently more 
likely. The ostensible reason, however, was to do 
away with any difficulties which might have been sug- 
gested by the objection of the Bishop of Tarbes to the 
legitimacy of the Princess Mary. If illegitimate, she 
would be no fitting bride for the Duke of Orleans. 
But she had been born bona fide parentum. There 
was no intention of infringing her prospective rights 
or of altering her present position. Her rank and 
title were to be secured to her in amplest measure. 

The Cardinal went upon his journey with the splen- 
dour attaching to his office and befitting a church- 
man who was aspiring to be the spiritual president of 
the two kingdoms. On his way to the coast he vis- 
ited two prelates whose support to his policy was im- 
portant. Archbishop Warham had been cold about 



42 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

the divorce, if not openly hostile. Wolsey found 
him "not much changed from his first fashion," but 
admitting that, although it might be unpleasant to the 
Queen, truth and justice must prevail. Bishop 
Fisher was a more difficult subject. He had spoken 
in the Legate's court in Catherine's favour. It was 
from him, as the King supposed, that Catherine herself 
had learnt what was impending over her. Wolsey 
called at his palace as he passed through Rochester. 
He asked the Bishop plainly if he had been in com- 
munication with the Queen. The Bishop, after some 
hesitation, confessed that the Queen had sought his 
advice, and said that he had declined to give an opin- 
ion without the King's command. Before Wolsey 
left London, at a last interview at York Place, the 
King had directed him to explain "the whole mat- 
ter " to the Bishop. He went through the entire his- 
tory, mentioned the words of the Bishop of Tarbes, 
and discussed the question which had risen upon it, 
on account of which he had been sent into France. 
Finally, he described the extreme violence with which 
Catherine had received the intelligence. 

The Bishop greatly blamed the conduct of the 
Queen, and said he thought that if he might speak to 
her he might bring her to submission. He agreed, or 
seemed to agree, that the marriage had been irregu- 
lar, though he did not himself think that it could now 
be broken. Others of the bishops, he thought, agreed 
with him ; but he was satisfied that the King meant 
nothing against the laws of God, and would be fully 
justified in submitting his misgivings to the Pope. 1 

Mendoza's and the Queen's letters had meanwhile 
been despatched to Spain, to add to the anxieties 

1 Wolsey to Henry VIII., July 5. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, 
vol. iv. part 2. Bishop Fisher to Paul, ibid., p. 1471. 



Situation of the -Emperor. 43 

which were overwhelming the Emperor. Nothing 
could have been less welcome at such a juncture than 
a family quarrel with his uncle of England, whose 
friendship he was still hoping to retain. The bird 
that he had caged at Rome was no convenient pri- 
soner. The capture of Rome had not been ordered by 
himself, though politically he was obliged to main- 
tain it. The time did not suit for the ambitious 
Church reforms of Lope de Soria. Peace would have 
to be made with the Pope on some moderate condi- 
tions. His own Spain was hardly quieted after the 
revolt of the Comunidades. Half Germany was in 
avowed apostasy from the Church of Rome. The 
Turks were overrunning Hungary, and sweeping the 
Mediterranean with their pirate fleets, and the pas- 
sionate and restless Francis was watching his oppor- 
tunity to revenge Pavia and attack his captor in the 
Low Countries and in Italy. The great Emperor was 
moderate, cautious, prudent to a fault. In a calmer 
season he might have been tempted to take the Church 
in hand; and none understood better the condition 
into which it had fallen. But he was wise enough to 
know that if a reform of the Papacy was undertaken 
at all it must be undertaken with the joint consent of 
the other Christian princes, and all his present efforts 
were directed to peace. He was Catherine's natural 
guardian. Her position in England had been hitherto 
a political security for Henry's friendship. It was 
his duty and his interest to defend her, and he meant 
to do it; not, however, by sending roving expeditions 
to land in Cornwall and raise a civil war; all means 
were to be tried before that; to attempt such a thing, 
he well knew, would throw Europe into a blaze. The 
letters found him at Valladolid. He replied, of 
course, that he was shocked at a proceeding so 



44 The Divorce of Catherine of A rag on. 

imlooked for and so scandalous, but he charged Men- 
doza to be moderate and to confine himself to remon- 
strance. 1 He wrote himself to Henry — confiden- 
tially, as from friend to friend, and ciphering his 
letter with his own hand. He was unable to believe, 
he said, that Henry could contemplate seriously 
bringing his domestic discomforts before the world. 
Even supposing the marriage illegitimate — even sup- 
posing that the Pope had no power to dispense in such 
cases — "it would be better and more honourable to 
keep the matter secret, and to work out a remedy." 
He bade Mendoza remind the King that to question 
the dispensing power affected the position of other 
princes besides his own; that to touch the legitimacy 
of his daughter would increase the difficulties with 
the succession, and not remove them. He implored 
the King "to keep the matter secret, as he would do 
himself." Meanwhile, he told Mendoza, for Cathe- 
rine's comfort, that he had written to demand a mild 
brief from the Pope to stop the scandal. He had 
requested him, as Catherine had suggested, to revoke 
Wolsey's powers, or at least to command that neither 
he nor any English Court should try the case. If 
heard at all it must be heard before his Holiness and 
the Sacred College. 2 But he could not part with the 
hope that he might still bring Wolsey to his own and 
the Queen's side. A council of Cardinals was to 
meet at Avignon to consider the Pope's captivity. 
The Cardinal of England was expected to attend. 
Charles himself might go to Perpignan. Wolsey 
might meet him there, discuss the state of Europe, 
and settle the King's secret affair at the same time. 



1 Charles V. to Inigo de Mendoza, July 29. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, p. 1500, 

2 Ibid. 



Offers made to Wolsey. 45 

Should this be impossible, he charged Mendoza once 
more to leave no stone unturned to recover Wolsey 's 
friendship. "In our name," he said, "you will make 
him the following offers : — 

"1. The payment of all arrears on his several 
pensions, amounting to 9,000 ducats annually. 

"2. Six thousand additional ducats annually until 
such a time as a bishoprick or other ecclesiastical en- 
dowment of the same revenue becomes vacant in 
our kingdom. 

"3. The Duke, who is to have Milan, to give him 
a Marquisate in that Duchy, with an annual rent of 
12,000 ducats, or 15,000 if the smaller sum be not 
enough; the said Marquisate to be held by the Cardi- 
nal during his life, and to pass after him to any heir 
whom he shall appoint." l 

As if -this was not sufficient, the Emperor paid a 
yet further tribute to the supposed all-powerful Cardi- 
nal. He wrote himself to him as to his "good friend." 
He said that if there was anything in his dominions 
which the Cardinal wished to possess he had only to 
name it, as he considered Wolsey the best friend that 
he had in the world. 2 

For the ministers of great countries deliberately to 
sell themselves to foreign princes was the custom of 
the age. The measure of public virtue which such a 
custom indicates was not exalted; and among the 
changes introduced by the Reformation the abolition 
or suspension of it was not the least beneficial. 
Thomas Cromwell, when he came to power, set the 
example of refusal, and corruption of public men on a 
scale so scandalously enormous was no more heard of. 

1 Charles V. to Mendoza, Sept. 30, 1527. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. iv. p. 1569. 

2 The Emperor to the Cardinal of York, Aug-. 31, 1527. — Spanish 
Calendar, vol. iii. part 2, p. 357. 



46 The Divorce of Catherine of Arctgon. 

Gold, however, had flowed in upon Wolsey in such 

enormous streams and from so many sources that the 
Emperor's munificence and attention failed to tempt 
him. On reaching Paris he found Francis bent upon 
war, and willing to promise anything for Henry's as- 
sistance. The belief at the French Court was that 
the Emperor, hearing that the Churches of England 
and France meant to decline from their obedience to 
the Roman Communion, would carry the Pope to 
Spain; that Clement would probably be poisoned 
there, and the Apostolic See would be established per- 
manently in the Peninsula. 1 Wolsey himself wrote 
this, and believed it, or desired Henry to believe it, 
proving the extreme uncertainty among the best-in- 
formed of contemporary politicians as to the probable 
issue of the capture of Rome. The French Cardinals 
drew and sent an address to the Pope, intimating that 
as long as he was in confinement they could accept no 
act of his as lawful, and would not obey it. Wolsey 
signed at the head of them. The Cardinals Salviati, 
Bourbon, Lorraine, and the Chancellor Cardinal of 
Sens, signed after him. 2 The first stroke in the game 
had been won by Wolsey. Had the Pope recalled his 
powers as legate, an immediate schism might have fol- 
lowed. But a more fatal blow had been prepared for 
him by his master in England. Trusting to the Car- 
dinal's promises that the Pope would make no diffi- 
culty about the divorce, Henry had considered himself 
at liberty to choose a successor to Catherine. He had 
suffered once in having allowed politics to select a wife 
for him. This time he intended to be guided by his 
own inclination. When Elizabeth afterwards wished 

1 Wolsey to Henry VIII., Aug. -, 1527. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. iv. part 2. 

2 The Cardinals of France to Clement VII., Sept. lf>, 1527. — Span- 
ish Calendar, vol. iii. part 2, p. 383. 



Anne Boleyn. 47 

to marry Leicester, Lord Sussex said she had better 
fix after her own liking; there would be the better 
chance of the heir that her realm was looking for. 
Her father fixed also after his liking in selecting 
Elizabeth's mother. 

/Anne Boleyn was the second daughter of Sir 
Thomas Boleyn, a Norfolk knight of ancient blood, 
and himself a person of some distinction in the public 
service. Lady Boleyn was a Howard, daughter of 
the Duke of Norfolk. Anne was born in 1507, and 
by birth and connection was early introduced into the 
court. AVhen a girl she was taken to Paris to be ed- 
ucated. In 1522 she was brought back to England, 
became a lady-in-waiting, and, being a witty, brilliant 
young woman, attracted and encouraged the atten- 
tions of the fashionable cavaliers of the day. Wyatt, 
the poet, was among her adorers, and the young Percy, 
afterwards Earl of Northumberland. It was alleged 
afterwards that between her and Percy there had been 
a secret marriage which had been actually consum- 
mated. That she had been involved in some danger- 
ous intrigue or other she herself subsequently con- 
fessed. But she was attractive, she was witty; she 
drew Henry's fancy, and the fancy became an ardent 
passion. Now, for the first time, in Wolsey's ab- 
sence, the Lady Anne's name appears in connection 
with the divorce. On the 16th of August Mendoza 
informed Charles, as a matter of general belief, that 
if the suit for the divorce was successful the King 
would marry a daughter of Master Boleyn, whom 
the Emperor would remember as once ambassador at 
the Imperial court. 1 There is no direct evidence that 
before Wolsey had left England the King had seri- 

1 Mendoza to Charles V., Aug. 1(5, 1j27. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iii. 
part 2, p. 3ii7. 



48 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

ously thought of Anne at all. Catherine could have 
had no suspicion of it, or her jealous indignation 
would have made itself heard. The Spanish Am- 
bassador spoke of it as a new feature in the case. 

The Boleyns were Wolsey's enemies, and belonged 
to the growing faction most hostile to the Church. 
The news as it came upon him was utterly distasteful. 1 
Anne in turn hated Wolsey, as he probably knew that 
she would, and she compelled him to stoop to the dis- 
grace of suing for her favour. The inference is rea- 
sonable, therefore, that the King took the step which 
in the event was to produce such momentous conse- 
quences when the Cardinal was not at hand to dissuade 
him. He was not encouraged even by her own family. 
Her father, as will be seen hereafter, was from the 
first opposed to his daughter's advancement. He 
probably knew her character too well. But Henry, 
when he had taken an idea into his head, was not to 
be moved from it. j The lady was not beautiful : she 
was rather short than tall, her complexion was dark, 
her neck long, her mouth broad, her figure not partic- 
ularly good. The fascinating features were her long 
flowing brown hair, a pair of effective dark eyes, and 
a boldness of character which might have put him on 
his guard, and did not. 

The immediate effect was to cool Wolsey's ardour 
for the divorce. His mission in France, which 
opened so splendidly, eventuated in little. The 
French cardinals held no meeting at Avignon. They 
had signed the address to Clement, but they had not 

1 The date of Henry's resolution to marry Anne is of some conse- 
quence, since the general assumption is that it was the origin of the 
divorce. Rumour, of course, said so afterwards, but there is no evi- 
dence for it. The early love-letters written by the King to her are 
assigned by Mr. Brewer to the midsummer of 1527. But they are un- 
dated, and therefore the period assigned to them is conjecture merely. 



Anne Boleyn and Wolsey. 49 

made the Cardinal of York into their patriarch. 
Rouen was not added to his other preferments. Could 
he but have proposed a marriage for his sovereign 
with the Princess of Alencon, all might have been 
different, but it had fared with him as it fared with 
the Earl of Warwick, whom Henry's grandfather had 
sent to France to woo a bride for him, and in his 
absence married Elizabeth Grey. He perhaps regret- 
ted the munificent offers of the Emperor which he had 
hastily rejected, and he returned to England in the 
autumn to feel the consequences of the change in his 
situation. Mr. Brewer labours in vain to prove that 
Wolsey was unfavourable to the divorce from the 
beginning. Catherine believed that he was the insti- 
gator of it. Mendoza was of the same opinion. Un- 
questionably he promoted it with all his power, and 
made it a part of a great policy. To maintain that 
he was acting thus against his conscience and to please 
the King is more dishonouring to him than to suppose 
that he was either the originator or the willing instru- 
ment. All, however, was altered when Anne Boleyn 
came upon the stage, and she made haste to make him 
feel the change. "The Legate has returned from 
France," wrote Mendoza on the 26th of October. 
He went to visit the King at Richmond, and sent to 
ask where he could see him. The Kino 1 was in his 
chamber. It happened that the lady, who seemed to 
entertain no great affection for the Cardinal, was in 
the room with the King, and before the latter could 
answer the message she said for him, "Where else is 
the Cardinal to come? Tell him he may come here 
where the King is." The Legate felt that such treat- 
ment boded no good to him, but concealed his resent- 
ment. "The cause," said Mendoza, "is supposed to 
be that the said lady bears the Legate a grudge, for 



50 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

other reasons, and because she has discovered that 
during his visit to France the Legate proposed to have 
an alliance for the King found in that country." 1 
Wolsey persuaded Mendoza that the French marriage 
had been a fiction, but at once he began to endeavour 
to undo his work, and prevent the dissolution of the 
marriage with Catherine. He tried to procure an 
unfavourable opinion from the English Bishops before 
legal proceedings were commenced. Mendoza, how- 
ever, doubted his stability if the King persisted in his 
purpose, and advised that a papal decision on the case 
should be procured and forwarded as soon as possi- 
ble. 2 

The Pope's captivity, however, would destroy the 
value of any judgment which he might give while he 
continued in durance. The Emperor, encouraged by 
the intimation that Wolsey was wavering, reverted to 
his previous hope. In a special memorandum of 
measures to be taken, the most important, notwith- 
standing the refusal of the previous offers, was still 
thought to be to "bribe the Cardinal." He must 
instantly be paid the arrears of his pensions out of the 
revenues of the sees of Palencia and Badajoz. If 
there was not money enough in the treasury, a further 
and larger pension of twelve or fourteen thousand 
crowns was to be given to him out of some rich bishop- 
ric in Castile. The Emperor admitted that he had 
promised the Cortes to appoint no more foreigners to 
Spanish sees, but such a promise could not be held 
binding, being in violation of the liberties of the 
Church. Every one would see that it was for the 
good of the kingdom. 

1 Mendoza to Charles V., Oct. 20, 1527. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iii. 
part 2, p. 432. 

2 Ibid. 



Missiori of Dr. Knight to the Pope. 5l 

The renewed offer was doubtless conveyed to Wol- 
sey, but he probably found that he had gone too deep 
to retire. If he made such an effort as Mendoza re- 
lates, he must have speedily discovered that it would 
be useless. He had encouraged the King in a belief 
that the divorce would be granted by the Pope as a 
matter of course, and the King, having made up his 
own mind, was not to be moved from it. If Wolsey 
now drew back, the certain inference would be that he 
had accepted an imperial bribe. There was no re- 
source, therefore, but to go on. 

While Wolsey had been hesitating, the King had, 
unknown to him, sent his secretary, Dr. Knight, to 
Rome with directions to obtain access if possible to the 
Pope, and procure the dispensation which had been 
already applied for to enable him to marry a second 
time without the formalities of a judgment. Such an 
expedient would be convenient in many ways. It 
would leave Catherine's position unaffected and the 
legitimacy of the Princess Mary unimpugned. 
Knight went. He found that without a passport he 
could not even enter the city, still less be allowed an 
interview. "With ten thousand crowns he could not 
bribe his way into St. Angelo." He contrived, how- 
ever, to have a letter introduced, which the Pope an- 
swered by telling Knight to wait in some quiet place. 
He (the Pope) would "there send him all the King's 
requests in as ample a form as they were desired." 
Knight trusted in a short time "to have in his custody 
as much, perfect, sped, and under lead, as his High- 
ness had long time desired." 1 

Knight was too sanguine. The Emperor, find- 
ing the Pope's detention as a prisoner embarrassing, 

1 Knight to Henry VIII., Dec. 4. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, 
vol. iv. part 2, pp. 1633-4. 



52 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

allowed him, on the 9th of December, to escape to 
Orvieto, where he was apparently at liberty ; but he 
was only in a larger cage, all his territories being 
occupied by Imperial troops, and he himself watched 
by the General of the Observants, and warned at 
his peril to grant nothing to Catherine's prejudice. 
Henry's Secretary followed him, saw him, and ob- 
tained something which on examination proved to be 
worthless. The negotiations were left again in Wol- 
sey's hands, and were pressed with all the eagerness 
of a desperate man. 

Pope Clement had ceased to be a free agent. He 
did not look to the rights of the case. He would 
gladly have pleased Henry could he have pleased him 
without displeasing Charles. The case itself was pe- 
culiar, and opinions differed on the rights and wrongs 
of it. The reader must be from time to time re- 
minded that, as the law of England has stood ever 
since, a marriage with a brother's widow was not a 
marriage. As the law of the Church then stood, it 
was not a marriage unless permitted by the Pope; 
and according to the same law of England the Pope 
neither has, nor ever had, any authority to dispense 
with the law. Therefore Henry, on the abstract con- 
tention, was in the right. He had married Catherine 
under an error. The problem was to untie the knot 
with as little suffering to either as the nature of the 
case permitted. That the negotiations were full of • 
inconsistencies, evasions, and contradictions, was nat- 
ural and inevitable. To cut the knot without un- 
tying it was the only direct course, but that all means 
were exhausted before the application of so violent a 
remedy was rather a credit than a reproach. 

The first inconsistency was in the King. He did 
not regard his marriage as valid ; therefore he thought 



The Pope at Orvieto. 53 

himself at liberty to marry again ; but lie did not wish 
to illegitimate his daughter or degrade Catherine. 
He disputed the validity of the dispensation of Julius 
II. ; yet he required a dispensation from Clement 
which was equally questionable to enable him to take 
a second wife. The management of the case having 
reverted to Wolsey, fresh instructions were sent to Sir 
Gregory Casalis, the regular English agent at the 
Papal court, to wait on Clement. Casalis was "bid 
consider how much the affair concerned the relief of 
the King's conscience, the safety of his soul, the pre- 
servation of his life, the continuation of his succes- 
sion, the welfare and repose of all his subjects now 
and hereafter." The Pope at Orvieto was personally 
accessible. Casalis was to represent to him the many 
difficulties which had arisen in connection with the 
marriage, and the certainty of civil war in England 
should the King die leaving the succession no better 
provided for. He was, therefore, to request the Pope 
to grant a commission to Wolsey to hear the case and 
to decide it, and (perhaps as an alternative) to sign a 
dispensation, a draft of which Wolsey enclosed. The 
language of the dispensation was peculiar. Wolsey 
explained it by saying that "the King, remembering 
by the example of past times what false claims [to the 
crown] had been put forward, to avoid all colour or 
pretext of the same, desired this of the Pope as abso- 
lutely necessary." If these two requests were con- 
ceded, Henry undertook on his part to require the 
Emperor to set the Pope at liberty, or to declare war 
against him if he refused. 

A dispensation, which was to evade the real point 
at issue, yet to convey to the King a power to take 
another wife, was a novelty in itself and likely to be 
carefully worded. It has given occasion among mod- 



54 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

era historians . to important inferences disgraceful to 
everyone concerned. The sinister meaning supposed 
to be obvious to modern critics could not have been 
concealed from the Pope himself. Here, therefore, 
follow the words which have been fastened on as for 
ever fatal to the intelligence and character of Henry 
and his Ministers. 

The Pope, after reviewing the later history of Eng- 
land, the distractions caused by rival claimants of the 
crown, after admitting the necessity of guarding 
against the designs of the ambitious, and empowering 
Henry to marry again, was made to address the King 
in these words : : — 

" In order to take away all occasion from evil doers, 
we do in the plenitude of our power hereby suspend 
hac vice all canons forbidding marriage in the fourth 
degree, also all canons cle impedimento puhlicm ho- 
nest atis preventing marriage in consequence of clan- 
destine espousals, further all canons relating to precon- 
tracts clandestinely made but not consummated, also 
all canons affecting impediments created by affinity 
rising ex illicito coitu, in any degree even in the first, 
so far as the marriage to be contracted by you, the 
petitioner, can be objected to or in any wise be im- 
pugned by the same. Further, to avoid canonical ob- 
jections on the side of the woman by reason of former 
contract clandestinely made, or impediment of public 
honesty or justice arising from such clandestine con- 
tract, or of any affinity contracted in any degree even 
the first, ex illicito coitu : and in the event that it has 
proceeded beyond the second or third degrees of con- 
sanguinity, whereby otherwise you, the petitioner, 
would not be allowed by the canons to contract mar- 
riage, we hereby license you to take such woman for 
1 1 follow Mr. Brewer's translation, 



The Required Dispensation. 55 

wife, and suffer you and the woman to marry free 
from all ecclesiastical objections and censures." 

The explanation given by Wolsey of the wording 
of this document is that it was intended to preclude 
any objections which might be raised to the prejudice 
of the offspring of a marriage in itself irregular. It 
was therefore made as comprehensive as possible. 
Dr. Lingard, followed by Mr. Brewer, and other 
writers see in it a transparent personal application to 
the situation in which Henry intended to place himself 
in making a wife of Anne Boleyn. Two years sub- 
sequent to the period when this dispensation was 
asked for, when the question of the divorce had de- 
veloped into a battle between England and the Pa- 
pacy, and the passions of Catholics and Reformers 
were boiling over in recrimination and invective, the 
King's plea that he was parting from Catherine out 
of conscience was met by stories set floating in society 
that the King himself had previously intrigued with 
the mother and sister of the lady whom he intended 
to marry ; precisely the same obstacle existed, there- 
fore, to his marriage with Anne, being further aggra- 
vated by incest. No attempt was ever made to prove 
these charges; no particulars were given of time or 
place. No witnesses were produced, nor other evi- 
dence, though to prove them would have been of in- 
finite importance. Queen Catherine, who if any one 
must have known it if the accusation was true, never 
alludes to Mary Boleyn in the fiercest of her denun- 
ciations. It was heard of only in the conversation of 
disaffected priests or secret visitors to the Spanish 
Ambassador, and was made public only in the mani- 
festo of Reginald Pole, which accompanied Paul III.'s 
Bull for Henry's deposition. Even this authority, 
which was not much in itself, is made less by the fact 



56 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

that in the first draft of "Pole's Book," sent to Eng- 
land to be examined in 1535, the story is not men- 
tioned. Evidently, therefore, Pole had not then heard 
of it or did not believe it. The guilt with the mother 
is now abandoned as too monstrous. The guilt with 
the sister is peremptorily insisted on, and the words 
of the dispensation are appealed to as no longer leav- 
ing room for doubt. To what else, it is asked, can 
such extraordinary expressions refer unless to some 
disgraceful personal liaison f 

The uninstructed who draw inferences of fact from 
the verbiage of legal documents will discover often 
what are called "mare's nests." I will request the 
reader to consider what this supposition involves. 
The dispensation would have to be copied into the 
Roman registers, subject to the inspection of the acut- 
est canon lawyers in the world. If the meaning is so 
clear to us, it must have been clear to them. We are, 
therefore, to believe that Henry, when demanding to 
be separated from Catherine, as an escape from mor- 
tal sin, for the relief of his conscience and the surety 
of his succession, was gratuitously putting the Pope 
in possession of a. secret which had only to be pub- 
lished to extinguish him and his plea in an outburst 
of scorn and laughter. 

There was no need for such an acknowledgment, for 
the intrigue could not be proved. It could not be re- 
quired for the legitimation of the children that were 
to be born; for a man of Wolsey's ability must have 
known that no dispensation would be held valid that 
was granted after so preposterous a confidence. It 
was as if a man putting in a claim for some great 
property, before the case came on for trial privately 
informed both judge and jury that it was based on 
forgery. 



TJie Mary Boleyn Scandal. 57 

We are called on to explain further, why, when all 
Europe was shaken by the controversy, no hint is to 
be found in any public document of a fact which, if 
true, would be decisive; and yet more extraordinary, 
why the Pope and the Curia, when driven to bay in 
all the exasperation of a furious controversy, left a 
weapon unused which would have assured them an 
easy victory. Wolsey was not a fool. Is it conceiv- 
able that he would have composed a document so fatal 
and have drawn the Pope's pointed attention to it? 
My credulity does not extend so far. We cannot 
prove a negative; we cannot prove that Henry had 
not intrigued with Mary Boleyn, or with all the ladies 
of his court. But the language of the dispensation 
cannot be adduced as an evidence of it, unless King, 
Pope, and all the interested world had parted with 
their senses. 

As to the story itself, there is no ground for distin- 
guishing between the mother and the daughter. When 
it was first set circulating both were named together. 
The mother only has been dropped, lest the improba- 
bility should seem too violent for belief. That Mary 
Boleyn had been the King's mistress before or after 
her own marriage is now asserted as an ascertained 
fact by respectable historians — a fact sufficient, can 
it be proved, to cover with infamy for ever the Eng- 
lish separation from Rome, King, Ministers, Parlia- 
ments, Bishops, and every one concerned with it. 
The effectiveness of the weapon commends it to Cath- 
olic controversialists. I have only to repeat that the 
evidence for the charge is nothing but the floating 
gossip of Catholic society, never heard of, never whis- 
pered, till the second stage of the quarrel, when it 
had developed into a passionate contest; never even 
then alleged in a form in which it could be met and 



58 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

answered. It could not have been hid from Queen 
Catherine if it was known to Reginald Pole. We 
have many letters of Catherine, eloquent on the story 
of her wrongs ; letters to the Emperor, letters to the 
Pope; yet no word of Mary Boleyn. What reason 
can be given save that it was a legend which grew out 
of the temper of the time? Nothing could be more 
plausible than to meet the King's plea of conscience 
with an allegation which made it ridiculous. But in 
the public pleadings of a cause which was discussed 
in every capital in Europe by the keenest lawyers 
and diplomatists of the age, an accusation which, if 
maintained, would have been absolutely decisive, is 
never alluded to in any public document till the ques- 
tion had passed beyond the stage of discussion. The 
silence of all responsible persons is sufficient proof of 
its nature. It was a mere floating calumny, born of 
wind and malice. 

Mr. Brewer does indeed imagine that he has dis- 
covered what he describes as a tacit confession on 
Henry's part. When the Act of Appeals was before 
the House of Commons which ended the papal juris- 
diction in England, a small knot of Opposition mem- 
bers used to meet privately to deliberate how to op- 
pose it. Among these one of the most active was Sir 
George Throgmorton, a man who afterwards, with his 
brother Michael, made himself useful to Cromwell and 
played with both parties, but was then against the 
divorce and against all the measures which grew out 
of it. Throgmorton, according to his own account, 
had been admitted to an interview with the King and 
Cromwell. In 1537, after the Pilgrimage of Grace, 
while the ashes of the rebellion were still smouldering, 
after Michael Throgmorton had betrayed Cromwell's 
confidence and gone over to Reginald Pole, Sir George 



Throgmorton s Story. 59 

was reported to have used certain expressions to Sir 
Thomas Dyngiey and to two other gentlemen, which 
he was called on by the Council to explain. The let- 
ter to the King in which he replied is still extant. 
He said that he had been sent for by the King after a 
speech on the Act of Appeals, "and that he saw his 
Grace's conscience was troubled about having" married 
his brother's wife." He professed to have said to 
Dyngiey that he had told the King that if he did 
marry Queen Anne his conscience would be more 
troubled at length, for it was thought he had meddled 
both with the mother and the sister; that his Grace 
said: "Never with the mother," and my Lord Privy 
Seal (Cromwell), standing by, said, "nor with the 
sister neither, so put that out of your mind." Mr. 
Brewer construes this into an admission of the Kins: 
that Mary Boleyn had been his mistress, and omits, 
of course, by inadvertence, that Throgmorton, being 
asked why he had told this story to Dyngiey, answered 
that "he spake it only out of vainglory, to show he 
was one that durst speak for the Commonwealth." 
Nothing is more common than for "vainglorious" 
men, when admitted to conversations with kings, to 
make the most of what they said themselves, and to re- 
port not very accurately what was said to them. 
Had the conversation been authentic, Throgmorton 
would naturally have appealed to Cromwell's recollec- 
tion. But Mr. Brewer accepts the version of a con- 
fessed boaster as if it was a complete and trustworthy 
account of what had actually passed. He does not 
ask himself whether if the King or Cromwell had 
given their version it might not have borne another 
complexion. Henry was not a safe person to take 
liberties with. Is it likely that if one of his sub- 
jects, who was actively opposing him in Parliament, 



60 Tlie Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

had taxed him with an enormous crime, he would have 
made a confession which Throgmorton had only to 
repeat in the House of Commons to ruin him and his 
cause? Mr. Brewer should have added also that the 
authority which he gave for the story was no better 
than Father Peto, afterwards Cardinal Peto, as bit- 
ter an enemy of the Reformation as Pole himself. 
Most serious of all, Mr. Brewer omits to mention that 
Throgmorton was submitted afterwards to a severe 
cross-examination before a Committee of Council, the 
effect of which, if he had spoken truly, could only be 
to establish the authenticity of a disgraceful charge. 1 

The last evidence alleged is the confession made by 
Anne Boleyn, after her condemnation, of some mys- 
tery which had invalidated her marriage with the 
King and had been made the ground of an Act of 
Parliament. The confession was not published, and 
Catholic opinion concluded, and concludes still, that 
it must have been the Mary Boleyn intrigue. Cath- 
olic opinion does not pause to inquire whether Anne 
could have been said to confess an offence of the King 
and her sister. The cross-examination of Throgmor- 
ton turns the conjecture into an absurdity. When 
asked, in 1537, whom he ever heard say such a thing, 
he would have had but to appeal to the proceedings in 
Parliament in the year immediately preceding. 

Is it likely finally that if Throgmorton 's examina- 
tion proves what Mr. Brewer thinks it proves, a rec- 

1 1. When he says, " It is thought," let him he examined whom he 
ever heard say any such thing of the King. 2. Where, when, and why 
he spoke those words to Sir Wm. Essex and Sir Wm. Barentyne. 3. 
Whether he communicated the matter to any other. 5, 6. Whether 
he thought the words true and why. 7, 8. Whether he did not think 
the words very slanderous to any man's good name. 10, 15. Whether 
he thinks such reports conducive to the peace of the Commonwealth, 
or fitting for a true subject to spread. — Calendar, Foreign and Domes- 
tic, 1537, p. 333. 



The Mary Boleyn Scandal. 61 

ord of it would have been preserved among the offi- 
cial State Papers? 

If all the stories current about Henry VIII. were 
to be discussed with as much detail as I have allowed to 
this, the world would not contain the books which 
should be written. An Irish lawyer told me in my 
youth to believe nothing which I heard in that country 
which had not been sifted in a court of justice, and 
only half of that. Legend is as the air invulnerable, 
and blows aimed at it, if not "malicious mockery " are 
waste of effort. Charges of scandalous immorality 
are precious to controversialists, for if they are dis- 
proved ever so completely the stain adheres. 



CHAPTER III. 

Anxiety of the Pope to satisfy the King — Fears of the Emperor — 
Proposed alternatives — France and England declare war in the 
Pope's defence — Campeggio to be sent to England — The King's 
account of the Pope's conduct — The Pope's distress and alarm — 
The secret decretal — Instructions to Campeggio. 

The story returns to Orvieto. The dispensation 
was promised on condition that it should not be im- 
mediately acted on. 1 Catherine having refused to 
acquiesce in a private arrangement, Wolsey again 
pressed the Pope for a commission to decide the cause 
in England, and to bind himself at the same time not 
to revoke it, but to confirm any judgment which he 
might himself give. "There were secret causes," he 
said, "which* could not be committed to writing which 
made such a concession imperative: certain diseases 
in the Queen defying all remedy, for which, as for 
other causes, the King would never again live with 
her as his wife." 

The Pope, smarting from ill-treatment and grateful 
for the help of France and England, professed himself 
earnestly anxious to do what Henry desired. But he 
was still virtually a prisoner. He had been obliged 
by the General of the Observants, when in St. Angelo, 
to promise to do nothing "whereby the King's divorce 
might be judged in his own dominions." He 
pleaded for time. He promised a commission of some 
kind, but he said he was undone if action was taken 
1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, p. 1672. 



The Popes Embarrassments. 63 

upon it while the Germans and Spaniards remained in 
Italy. He saw evident ruin before him, he said, but 
he professed to be willing to run the hazard rather than 
that Wolsey should suspect him of ingratitude. He 
implored the Cardinal, cum suspiriis et I aery mis, not 
to precipitate him for ever, and precipitated he would 
be if, on receiving the commission, the Cardinal at 
once began the process. 1 A fortnight later Casalis 
described a long conversation with the Pope and Car- 
dinals on the course to be pursued. Henry had de- 
sired that a second Legate should be sent from Rome 
to act with Wolsey. To consent to this would directly 
compromise the Papal Court. Clement had no objec- 
tion to the going forward with the cause, but he did 
not wish to be himself responsible. He signed an im- 
perfect commission not inconsistent with his promise 
to the General of the Observants. On this Wolsey 
might act or, if he preferred it, might proceed on his 
own Legatine authority. For himself, instead of en- 
gaging to confirm Wolsey 's sentence, he said that no 
doctor could better resolve the point at issue than the 
King himself. If he was resolved, said the Pope, let 
him commit his cause to the Legate, marry again, 
follow up the trial, and then let a public application 
be made for a Legate to be sent from the Consistory. 
If the Queen was cited first, she would put in no an- 
swer, save to protest against the place and judges. 
The Imperialists would demand a prohibition, and 
then the King could not marry, or, if he did, the off- 
spring would be illegitimate. They would also de- 
mand a commission for the cause to be heard at Rome, 
which the Pope would be unable to refuse. But the 
King being actually married again, they could not 
ask for a prohibition. They could only ask that the 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, p. 1672, 



64 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

cause should be re-examined at Rome, when the Pope 
would give sentence and a judgment could be passed 
which would satisfy the whole world. 1 This was the 
Pope's own advice, but he did not wish it to be known 
that it had come from himself. Casalis might select 
the Legate to England after the first steps had been 
taken. Campeggio he thought the fittest, being al- 
ready an English bishop. 2 At any rate, the Pope 
bade Casalis say he would do his best to satisfy the 
King, though he knew that the Emperor would never 
forgive him. 

It is not certain what would have followed had 
Henry acted on the Pope's suggestion. The judg- 
ment which Clement promised might have been in his 
favour. Clement evidently wished him to think that 
it would. But he might, after all, have found himself 
required to take Catherine back. Either alternative 
was possible. At any rate he did not mean, if he 
could help it, to have recourse to violent methods. 
Charles himself, though he intended to prevent, if he 
could, a legal decision against his aunt, had hinted at 
the possibility and even desirableness of a private 
arrangement, if Catherine would agree. Catherine, 
unfortunately, would agree to nothing, but stood reso- 
lutely upon her rights, and Charles was forced to stand 
by her. Henry was equally obstinate, and the Pope 
was between the rock and the whirlpool. 

The Pope had promised, however, and had promised 
with apparent sincerity. The Papal states remaining 
occupied by the Imperial troops, Henry carried out 

1 Casalis to Wolsey, January 13, 1528. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. iv. part 2, p. 1694. 

2 Three foreigners held English sees, not one of which either of them 
had prohahly ever visited. Campeggio was Bishop of Salisbury ; Ghi- 
nucci, the auditor of the Rota, was Bishop of Worcester ; and Cathe- 
rine's Spanish confessor, who had come with her to England, was Bishop 
of Llandaff . 



Declaration of War. 65 

his own part of the engagement by joining France in 
a declaration of war against the Emperor. Toison 
d'or and Clarencieulx appeared before Charles at Bur- 
gos on the 22nd of January, Charles sitting on his 
throne to receive their defiance. Toison d'or said that 
the Emperor had opened Christendom to the Turks, 
had imprisoned the Pope, had allowed his armies to 
sack Rome and plunder churches and monasteries, had 
insulted the holy relics, slain or robbed princes of the 
Church, cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, outraged 
nunneries and convents, had encouraged Lutheran 
heretics in committing these atrocities, &c. For these 
reasons France declared open war with the Emperor. 
The English herald — he was accused afterwards of 
having exceeded his instructions — was almost as per- 
emptory. Henry, in earlier times, had lent Charles 
large sums of money, which had not been repaid. 
Clarencieulx said that, unless the Pope was released 
and the debt settled, the King of England must make 
common cause with his brother of France. Six weeks' 
interval was allowed for the Emperor to consider his 
answer before hostilities on the side of England should 
commence. 

The Emperor replied with calmness and dignity. 
War with France was inevitable. As to England, he 
felt like Cicero, when doubting whether he should 
quarrel with Caesar, that it was inconvenient to be in 
debt to an enemy. If England attacked him he said 
he would defend himself, but he declined to accept the 
defiance. Mendoza was not recalled from London. 
At the end of the six weeks the situation was pro- 
longed by successive truces till the peace of Cambray. 
But Henry had kept his word to the Pope. England 
appeared by the side of France in the lists as the 
armed champion of the Papacy, and the Pope was 



66 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

expected to fulfil his promises without disguise or sub- 
terfuge. 

Clement's method of proceeding with the divorce 
was rejected. The dispensation and commission which 
had been amended with a view to it were rejected also 
as worthless. Dr. Fox and Stephen Gardiner were 
despatched to Orvieto with fuller powers and with a 
message peremptory and even menacing. They were 
again to impress on the Pope the danger of a disputed 
succession. They were to hint that, if relief was re- 
fused in deference to the Emperor, England might 
decline from obedience to the Holy See. The Pope 
must, therefore, pass the commission and the dispen- 
sation in the form in which it had been sent from Enp-- 
land. If he objected that it was unusual, they were 
to announce that the cause was of great moment. The 
King would not be defrauded of his expectation 
through fear of the Emperor. If he could not obtain 
justice from the Pope, he would be compelled to seek 
it elsewhere. 1 

The language of these instructions shows that the 
King and Wolsey understood the Proteus that they 
were dealing with, and the necessity of binding his 
hands if he was not to slip from them. It was not 
now the fountain of justice, the august head of Chris- 
tendom, that they were addressing, but a shifty old 
man, clad by circumstances with the robe of authority, 
but whose will was the will of the power which hap- 
pened to be strongest in Italy. It was not tolerable 
that the Emperor should dictate on a question which 
touched the vital interests of an independent king- 
dom. 

Spanish diplomatists had afterwards to excuse and 

1 Wolsey to Gardiner and Fox, February -, 1528. — Calendar, For- 
eign and Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, p. 1740. 



The Promises made by the Pope. 67 

explain away Clement's concessions on the ground that 
they were signed when he was angry at his imprison- 
ment, had been extorted by threats, and were there- 
fore of no validity. He struggled hard to avoid com- 
mitting himself. The unwelcome documents were 
recast into various forms. The dispensation was not 
signed after all, but in the place of it other briefs were 
signed of even graver importance. The Pope yielded 
to the demand to send a second Legate to try the cause 
with Wolsey in England, where it was assumed as a 
matter of course that judgment would be given for the 
King. The Legate chosen was Campeggio, who was 
himself, as was said, an English bishop. The Pope 
also did express in writing his own opinion on the 
cause as favourable to the King's plea. What passed 
at Orvieto was thus afterwards compendiously related 
by Henry in a published statement of his case. 

"On his first scruple the King sent to the Bishop 
of Rome, as Christ's Vicar, who had the keys of know- 
ledge, to dissolve his doubts. The said Bishop refused 
to take any knowledge of it and desired the King to 
apply for a commission to be sent into the realm, au- 
thorised to determine the cause, thus pretending that 
it might no wise be entreated at Rome, but only within 
the King's own realm. He delegated his whole pow- 
ers to Campeggio and Wolsey, giving them also a 
special commission in form of a decretal, wherein he 
declared the King's marriage null and empowered him 
to marry again. In the open commission also he gave 
them full authority to give sentence for the King. 
Secretly he gave them instructions to burn the com- 
mission decretal and not proceed upon it; (but) at 
the time of sending the commission he also sent the 
King a brief, written in his own hand, admitting the 
justice of his cause and promising sanctisswie sub 



68 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

verbo Pontiftcis that he would never advocate it to 
Rome." 1 

Engagements which he intended to keep or break 
according to the turns of the war between Francis and 
Charles did not press very heavily perhaps on Clem- 
ent's conscience, but they were not extorted from him 
without many agonies. "He has granted the commis- 
sion," Casalis wrote. "He is not unwilling to please 
the King and Wolsey, but fears the Spaniards more 
than ever he did. The Friar-General has forbidden 
him in the Emperor's name to grant the King's re- 
quest. He fears for his life from the Imperialists if 
the Emperor knows of it. Before he would grant the 
brief he said, weeping, that it would be his utter ruin. 
The Venetians and Florentines desired his destruction. 
His sole hope of life was from the Emperor. He asked 
me to swear whether the King would desert him or 
not. Satisfied on this point, he granted the brief, say- 
ing that he placed himself in the King's arms, as he 
would be drawn into perpetual war with the Emperor. 
Wolsey might dispose of him and the Papacy as if he 
were Pope himself." 2 

The Emperor had insisted, at Catherine's desire, 
that the cause should not be heard in England. The 
Pope had agreed that it should be heard in England. 
Consent had been wrung from him, but his consent 
had been given, and Campeggio was to go and make 
the best of it. His open commission was as ample as 
words could make it. He and Wolsey were to hear 
the cause and decide it. The secret "decretal" which 
he had wept over while he signed it declared, before 
the cause was heard, the sentence which was to be 

1 Embassy to the German Princes, January 5, 1534. — Calendar, For- 
eign and Domestic, vol. vii. p. 10. 

2 Casalis to Peter Vannes, April, 1538. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. iv. part 2, p. 1842. 



Instructions to Campeggio. 69 

given, and he had pledged his solemn word not to 
revoke the hearing to Rome. All that Clement could 
do was to instruct the Legate before he started to waste 
time on his way, and, on his arrival in England, to 
use his skill to "accommodate matters," and to per- 
suade the Queen — if he found her persuadeable — to 
save him from his embarrassments by taking the veil. 
This was a course which Charles himself in his private 
mind would have recommended, but was too honoura- 
ble to advise it. The fatal decretal was to be seen 
only by a very few persons, and then, as Henry said, 
Campeggio was to burn it. He was instructed also to 
pass no sentence without first referring back to Rome, 
and, if driven to extremity, was to find an excuse for 
postponing a decision; very natural conduct on the 
part of a weak, frightened mortal — conduct not un- 
like that of his predecessor, Alexander III., in the 
quarrel between Becket and Henry II. — but in both 
cases purely human, not such as might have been 
looked for in a divinely guided Vicar of Christ. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Anne Boleyn — Letters to her from the King — The Convent at Wilton 

— The Divorce — The Pope's promises — Arrival of Campeggio in 
England — Reception at the Bridewell Palace — Proposal to Cathe- 
rine to take the veil — Her refusal — Uncertainty of the succession 

— A singular expedient — Alarms of Wolsey — The true issue — 
Speech of the King in the City — Threats of the Emperor — Defects 
in the Bull of Pope Julius — Alleged discovery of a brief supplying 
them — Distress of Clement. 

The marriage with Anne Boleyn was now a fixed 
idea in Henry's mind. He had become passionately 
attached to her, though not perhaps she to him. The 
evidence of his feeling remains in a series of letters to 
her — how preserved for public inspection no one 
knows. Some of them were said to have been stolen 
by Campeggio. Perhaps they were sold to him; at 
any rate, they survive. A critic in the "Edinburgh 
Review " described them as such as "might have been 
written by a pot-boy to his girl." The pot-boy must 
have been a singular specimen of his kind. One, at 
any rate, remains to show that, though Henry was in 
love, he did not allow his love to blind him to his duty 
as a prince. The lady, though obliged to wait for the 
full gratification of her ambition, had been using her 
influence to advance her friends, while Wolsey brought 
upon himself the rebuke of his master by insufficient 
care in the distribution of Church patronage. The 
correspondence throws an unexpected light upon the 
King's character. 

The Abbess of Wilton had died. The situation 



The Convent at Wilton. 71 

was a pleasant one. Among the sisters who aspired to 
the vacant office was a certain Eleanor Carey, a near 
connection of Anne, and a favourite with her. The 
appointment rested virtually with the Crown. The 
Lady Anne spoke to the King. The King deputed 
Wolsey to inquire into the fitness of the various can- 
didates, with a favourable recommendation of Eleanor 
Carey's claims. The inquiry was made, and the result 
gives us a glimpse into the habits of the devout re- 
cluses in these sacred institutions. 1 

"As for the matter of Wilton," wrote Henry to 
Anne, "my Lord Cardinal here had the nuns before 
him, and examined them in the presence of Master 
Bell, who assures me that she whom we would have 
had Abbess has confessed herself to have had two chil- 
dren by two different priests, and has since been kept 
not long ago by a servant of Lord Broke that was. 
Wherefore I would not for all the gold in the world 
clog your conscience nor mine, to make her ruler of a 
house which is of so ungodly demeanour, nor I trust 
you would not that, neither for brother nor sister, 2 I 
should so distain mine honour or conscience. And as 
touching the Prioress [Isabella Jordan] or Dame Elea- 
nor's elder sister, though there is not any evident 
cause proved against them, and the Prioress is so old 
that of many years she could not be as she was named, 
yet notwithstanding, to do you pleasure I have done 
that neither of them shall have it, but that some other 
good and well-disposed woman shall have it, whereby 
the house shall be better reformed, whereof I assure 
you it hath much need, and God much the better 
served." 

1 Henry VIII. to Anne Boleyn, June or July, 1528. — Calendar, For- 
eign and Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, p. I960. 

2 Eleanor Carey was the sister of Mary Boleyn's husband. 



72 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

This letter is followed by another to the Cardinal. 
Wolsey, in whose hands the King had left the matter, 
in a second letter which is lost, instead of looking out 
for the "good and well-disposed woman," though Isa- 
bella Jordan's reputation was doubtful, yet chose to 
appoint her, and the King's observations upon this 
action of his are worth attending to, as addressed by 
such a person as Henry is supposed to have been to 
a Cardinal Archbishop and Legate of the Holy See. 
Many of the letters signed by the King were the com- 
position of his ministers and secretaries. This to 
Wolsey was his own. 

"The great affection and love I bear you, causeth 
me, using the doctrine of my Master, quern diligo cas- 
tigo, thus plainly as now ensueth to break to you my 
mind, ensuring you that neither sinister report, affec- 
tion to my own pleasure, interest, nor mediation of 
any other body beareth part in this case, wherefore 
whatsoever I do say, I pray you think it spoken of no 
displeasure, but of him that would you as much good 
both of body and soul as you would yourself. 

" Methinks it is not the right train of a trusty lov- 
ing friend and servant when the matter is put by the 
master's consent into his arbitre and judgement — 
especially in a matter wherein his master hath both 
royalty and interest, to elect and choose a person who 
was by him defended. And yet another thing which 
displeaseth me more. That is to cloke your offence 
made by ignorance of my pleasure, saying that you 
expressly knew not my determinate mind in that be- 
half. Alas, my lord, what can be more evident or 
plainer than these words, specially to a wise man — 
' His Grace careth not who, but referreth it all to you, 
so that none of those who either be or have been 
spotted with incontinence, like as by report the Pri- 






A Letter to Wolsey. 73 

oress hath been in her youth, have it ; ' and also in 
another place in the letter, ' And therefore his High- 
ness thinketh her not meet for that purpose ; ' thirdly, 
in another place in the same letter by these words, 
* And though his Grace speaketh not of it so openly, 
yet meseemeth his pleasure is that in no wise the Pri- 
oress have it, nor yet Dame Eleanor's eldest sister, for 
many considerations the which your Grace can and 
will best consider. ' 

"Ah, my Lord, it is a double offence both to do ill 
and to colour it too ; but with men that have wit it 
cannot be accepted so. Wherefore, good my Lord, 
use no more that way with me, for there is no man 
living that more hateth it. These things having been 
thus committed, either I must have reserved them in 
pectore, whereby more displeasure might happen to 
breed, or else thus soundly and plainly to declare them 
to you, because I do think that cum amico et familiar i 
sincere semper est agendum, and especially the master 
to his best beloved servant and friend, for in so doing 
the one shall be more circumspect in his doing, the 
other shall declare and show the lothness that is 
in him to have any occasion to be displeased with 
him. 

"And as touching the redress of Religion [convent 
discipline], if it be observed and continued, undoubt- 
edly it is a gracious act. Notwithstanding, if all re- 
ports be true, ah imbecillis imbecilla expectantur. 
How be it, Mr. Bell hath informed me that the Pri- 
oress's age, personage and manner, prm se fert gra- 
vitatem. I pray God it be so indeed, seeing she is 
preferred to that room. I understand furthermore, 
which is greatly to my comfort, that you have ordered 
yourself to Godward as religiously and virtuously as 
any Prelate or father of Christ's Church can do, 



74 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

where in so doing and persevering there can be no- 
thing more acceptable to God, more honour to your- 
self, nor more desired of your friends, among the 
which I reckon myself not the least. . . . 

"I pray you, my Lord, think it not that it is upon 
any displeasure that I write this unto you. For surely 
it is for my discharge before God, being in the room 
that I am in, and secondly for the great zeal I bear 
unto you, not undeserved in your behalf. Where- 
fore I pray you take it so; and I assure you, your 
fault acknowledged, there shall remain in me no spark 
of displeasure, trusting hereafter you shall recompense 
that with a thing much more acceptable to me. And 
thus fare you well; advertising you that, thanked be 
God, I and all my folk be, and have been since we 
came to Ampthill, which was on Saturday last, July 
11, in marvellous good health and clearness of air. 

" Written with the hand of him that is, and shall be 
your loving Sovereign Lord and friend, — Henry 
R." 1 

Campeggio meanwhile was loitering on his way as 
he had been directed, pretending illness, pretending 
difficulties of the road. In sending him at all the 
Pope had broken his promise to Charles. He engaged, 
however, that no sentence should be given which had 
not been submitted first to Charles's approval. The 
Emperor, anxious to avoid a complete rupture with 
England, let the Legate go forward, but he directed 
Mendoza to inform Wolsey that he must defend his 
aunt's honour; her cause was his and he would hold it 
as such. 2 Wolsey, though afraid of the consequence 
of opposing the divorce to himself and the Church, yet 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv., Introduction, pp. 388-9. 

2 The Emperor to Mendoza, July 5, 1528. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iii. part 2, p. 728. 



The Legatine Commission. 75 

at heart had ceased to desire it. Mendoza reported 
that English opinion was still unfavourable, and that 
he did not believe that the commission would have any 
result. The Pope would interpose delays. Wolsey 
would allow and recognise them. Both Legates would 
agree privately to keep the matter in suspense. The 
English Cardinal appeared to be against the Queen, 
but every one knew that secretly he was now on her 
side. 1 Catherine only was seriously frightened. She 
had doubtless been informed of the secret decretal by 
which the Pope appeared to have prejudged her cause. 
She supposed that the Pope meant it, and did not 
understand how lightly such engagements sate upon 
him. The same Clement, when Benvenuto Cellini 
reproached him for breaking his word, replied, smil- 
ing, that the Pope had power to bind and to loose. 
Catherine came before long to know him better and 
to understand the bearings of this singular privilege ; 
but as yet she thought that words meant what they 
seemed to say. When she heard that Campeggio was 
actually coming, she wrote passionately to the Empe- 
ror, flinging herself upon him for protection. Charles 
calmed her alarm. She was not, he said, to be con- 
demned without a hearing. The Pope had assured 
him that the Legates should determine nothing to her 
detriment. The case should be decided at Rome, as 
she had desired. Campeggio 's orders were to advise 
that it should be dropped. Apart from his present 
infatuation, the King was a good Christian and would 
act as one. If he persisted, she might rely on the 
Pope's protection. She must consent to nothing which 
would imply the dissolution of her marriage. If the 

1 Mendoza to the Emperor, September 18, 1528. — Ibid. vol. iii. part 
2, p. 788. 



76 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

worst came, the King would be made conscious of his 
duties. 1 

In the middle of October the Legate arrived. He 
had been ill in earnest from gout and was still suffer- 
ing. He had to rest two days in Calais before he could 
face the Channel. The passage was wild. A deputa- 
tion of Peers and Bishops waited to receive him at 
Dover. Respectful demonstrations had been prepared 
at the towns through which he was to pass, and a state 
ceremonial was to accompany his entrance into Lon- 
don. But he was, or pretended to be, too sick to allow 
himself to be seen. He was eight days on the road 
from the coast, and on reaching his destination he was 
carried privately in a state barge to the house provided 
for his residence. Wolsey called the next morning. 
The King was absent, but returned two days later to 
the Bridewell palace. There Campeggio waited on 
him, accompanied by Wolsey. The weather continued 
to frown. "I wish," wrote Gerardo Molza to the 
Marchioness of Mantua, "that you could have seen 
the two Cardinals abreast, one on his mule, the other 
carried in his chair, the rain falling fast so that we 
were all drenched." The King, simple man, believed 
that the documents which he held secured him. The 
Pope in sending the Legate had acted in the teeth of 
the Emperor's prohibition, and no one guessed how 
the affair had been soothed down. The farce was well 
played, and the language used was what Henry ex- 
pected. Messer Floriano, one of Campeggio's suit, 
made a grand oration, setting out the storming of 
Rome, the perils of the Church, and the misery of 
Italy, with moving eloquence. The crowd was so 
dense in the hall of audience that some of the Italians 

1 Charles V. to Queen Catherine, September 1, 1528. — Spanish Cal- 
endar, vol. iii. part 2, p. 779. 



TJie Legatine Commission. 77 

lost their shoes, and had to step back barefoot to their 
lodgings through the wet streets. 

The Legate was exhausted by the exertion, but he 
was not allowed to rest, and the serious part of the 
business began at once behind the scenes. He had 
hoped, as the Emperor said, that the case might be 
dropped. He found Henry immoveable. "An angel 
from heaven," he wrote on the 17th of October, 1 
"would not be able to persuade the King that his mar- 
riage was not invalid. The matter had come to such 
a pass that it could no longer be borne with. The 
Cardinal of York and the whole kingdom insisted that 
the question must be settled in some way." One road 
out of the difficulty alone presented itself. The Em- 
peror had insisted that the marriage should not be dis- 
solved by Catherine's consent, objecting reasonably 
that a judgment invalidating it would shake other 
royal marriages besides hers. But no such judgment 
would be necessary if Catherine could be induced to 
enter "lax religion," to take vows of chastity which, 
at her age and under her conditions of health, would 
be a mere form. The Pope could then allow Henry 
to take another wife without offence to any one. The 
legitimacy of the Princess would not be touched, and 
the King undertook that the succession should be set- 
tled upon her if he had no male heir. The Queen in 
consenting would lose nothing, for the King had for 
two years lived apart from her, and would never re- 
turn to cohabitation. The Emperor would be deliv- 
ered from an obligation infinitely inconvenient to him, 
and his own honour and the honour of Spain would be 
equally untouched. 

These arguments were laid before the Queen by 

1 Campeggio to Salviati and to Sanga, October 17, 1528. — Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, pp. 2099-2102. 



78 TJie Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

both the Legates, and urged with all their eloquence. 
In the interests of the realm, in the interests of Eu- 
rope, in the interests of the Church, in her own and 
her daughter's interest as well, it would have been 
wiser if she had complied. Perhaps she would have 
complied had the King's plea been confined, as at first, 
to the political exigencies of the succession. But the 
open and premature choice of the lady who was to 
take her place was an indignity not to be borne. She 
had the pride of her race. Her obstinacy was a match 
for her husband's. She was shaken for a moment by 
the impassioned entreaties of Campeggio, and she did 
not at once absolutely refuse. The Legate postponed 
the opening of his court. He referred to Rome for 
further instructions, complaining of the responsibility 
which was thrown upon him. Being on the spot he 
was able to measure the danger of disappointing the 
King after the secret commission, the secret decretal, 
and the Pope's private letter telling Henry that he 
was right. Campeggio wrote to Salviati, after his 
first interview with Catherine, that he did not yet 
despair. Something might be done if the Emperor 
would advise her to comply. He asked Fisher to help 
him, and Fisher seemed not wholly unwilling; but, 
after a few days' reflection, Catherine told him that 
before she would consent she would be torn limb from 
limb; she would have an authoritative sentence from 
the Pope, and would accept nothing else; nothing 
should make her alter her opinion, and if after death 
she could return to life, she would die over again 
rather than change it. 1 

Wolsey was in equal anxiety. He had set the stone 
rolling, but he could not stop it. If Clement failed 

1 Campeggio to Salviati, October 26, 1528. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, p. 2108. 



The Question at Stake. 79 

the King now, after all that he had promised, he might 
not only bring ruin on Wolsey himself, but might 
bring on the overthrow of the temporal power of the 
Church of England. Catherine was personally popu- 
lar ; but in the middle classes of the laity, among the 
peers and gentlemen of England, the exactions of the 
Church courts, the Pope's agents and collectors, the 
despotic tyranny of the Bishops, had created a resent- 
ment the extent of which none knew better than he. 
The entire gigantic system of clerical dominion, of 
which Wolsey was himself the pillar and representa- 
tive, was tottering to its fall. If the King was driven 
to bay, the favour of a good-natured people for a suf- 
fering woman would be a poor shelter either for the 
Church or for him. Campeggio turned to Wolsey for 
advice on Catherine's final refusal. The Pope, he 
said, had hoped that Wolsey would advise the King to 
yield. Wolsey had advised. He told Cavendish that 
he had gone on his knees to the King, but he could 
only say to Campeggio that "the King — fortified and 
justified by reasons, writings, and counsels of many 
learned men who feared God — would never yield." 
If he was to find that the Pope had been playing with 
him, and the succession was to be left undetermined, 
"the Church would be ruined and the realm would be 
in infinite peril." 

How great, how real, was the dread of a disputed 
succession, appears from an extraordinary expedient 
which had suggested itself to Campeggio himself, and 
which he declares that some perplexed politicians had 
seriously contemplated. "They have thought," he 
wrote on the 28th of October, "of marrying the Prin- 
cess Mary to the King's natural son [the Duke of 
Richmond] if it could be done by dispensation from 
His Holiness." The Legate said that at first he had 



80 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

himself thought of this as a means of establishing the 
succession ; but he did not believe it would satisfy the 
King's desire. 1 If anything could be more astonishing 
than a proposal for the marriage of a brother and sis- 
ter, it was the reception which the suggestion met with 
at Rome. The Pope's secretary replied that "with 
regard to the dispensation for marrying the son to the 
daughter of the King, if on the succession being so 
established the King would abandon the divorce, the 
Pope would be much more inclined to grant it." 2 

Clement's estimate of the extent of the dispensing 
power was large. But the situation was desperate. He 
had entangled himself in the meshes. He had promised 
what he had no intention of performing. He was find- 
ing that he had been trifling with a lion, and that the 
lion was beginning to rouse himself. Again and again 
Wolsey urged the dangers upon him. He wrote 
on the 1st of November to Casalis that "the King's 
honour was touched, having been so great a benefac- 
tor to the Holy See. The Pope would alienate all 
faith and devotion to the Apostolic See. The sparks 
of opposition which had been extinguished with such 
care and vigilance would blaze out to the utmost anger 
of all, both in England and elsewhere." 3 Clement 
and his Cardinals heard, but imperfectly believed. 
"He tells us," wrote Sanga, "that if the divorce is 
not granted the authority of the Apostolic See in Eng- 
land will be annihilated ; he is eager to save it because 
his own greatness is bound up with ours." The Curia 
was incredulous, and thought that Wolsey was only 
alarmed for himself. Wolsey, however, was right. 

1 Campeggio to Sanga, Oct. 28. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, 
vol. vi. part 2, p. 2113. 

2 Sanga to Campeggio, Dec. -, 1528. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. vi. part 2, p. 2210. 

3 Wolsey to Casalis. Nov. 1, 1528. —lb. vol. iv. part 2, p. 2120. 



Speech of the King in the City. 81 

Although opinions might have varied on the merits of 
the King's request, people were beginning to ask what 
value as a supreme judge a pope could have, who could 
not decide on a point of canon law. 

The excitement was growing. Certain knowledge 
of what was going on was confined to the few who had 
access to the secret correspondence, and they knew 
only what was meant for their own eyes. All parties, 
English and Imperial alike, distrusted the Pope. He 
had impartially lied to both, and could be depended 
on by neither, except so far as they could influence 
his fears. Catherine was still the favourite with the 
London citizens. She had been seen accidentally in 
a gallery of the Palace, and had been enthusiastically 
cheered. The King found it necessary to explain him- 
self. On the 8th of November he summoned the Lord 
Mayor and Aldermen, the Privy Council, and a body 
of Peers, and laid the situation before them from his 
own point of view. He spoke of his long friendship 
with the Emperor, and of his hope that it would not 
be broken, and again of his alliance with France, and 
of his desire to be at peace with all the world. "He 
had wished," he said, "to attach France more closely 
to him by marrying his daughter to a French prince, 
and the French Ambassador, in considering the pro- 
posal, had raised the question of her legitimacy. His 
own mind had long misgiven him on the lawfulness of 
his marriage. M. de Tarbes' words had added to his 
uneasiness. The succession to the crown was uncer- 
tain; he had consulted his bishops and lawyers, and 
they had assured him that he had been living in mor- 
tal sin. . . . He meant only to do what was right, and 
he warned his subjects to be careful of forming hasty 
judgments on their Prince's actions." 

Apart from the present question the King was 



82 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

extremely popular, and reports arriving from Spain 
touched the national pride. There was a talk of call- 
ing Parliament. Mendoza and Catherine again urged 
Charles to speak plainly. The Pope must inhibit Par- 
liament from interfering. The Nuncio in London 
would present the order, and Parliament, they thought, 
would submit. 1 They were mistaking the national 
temper. Mendoza 's letters had persuaded the Spanish 
Council that the whole of England was in opposition 
to the King. The Spanish Chancellor had said pub- 
licly that if the cause was proceeded with there would 
be war, and " the King would be dethroned by his own 
subjects." The words were reported to Wolsey, and 
were confirmed by an English agent, Sylvester Darius, 
who had been sent to Valladolid on business connected 
with the truce. 2 Darius had spoken to the Chancel- 
lor on the probability of England taking active part 
with France. " Why do you talk of the King of Eng- 
land?" the Chancellor had answered; "if we wished, 
we could expel him from his kingdom in three months. 
What force had the King? his own subjects would 
expel him. He knew how matters were." 3 It was 
one thing for a free people to hold independent opin- 
ions on the arrangements of their own royal family. 
It was another to be threatened with civil war at the 
instigation of a foreign sovereign. Wolsey quoted 
the dangerous language at a public meeting in Lon- 
don; and a voice answered, "The Emperor has lost 
the hearts of a hundred thousand Englishmen." 4 A 

1 Catherine to Charles V., Nov. 24, 1528. — Span ish Calendar, vol. 
iii. part 2, p. 855. 

2 Mendoza to Charles V., Dec. 2, 1528. — lb. p. 8G2. Jan. 16, 1529. 
- ib. p. 878. 

3 Sylvester Darius to Wolsey, Nov. 25, 1528. — Calendar, Foreign 
and Domestic, vol. iv. pt. 2, p. 2126. 

4 Du Bellay to Montmorency, Dec. 9, 1528. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. iv. pt. 2, p. 2177. 



Papal Brief discovered in Spain. 83 

fresh firebrand was thrown into the flames immediately 
after. The national pride was touched on a side 
where it was already sensitive from interest. There 
were 15,000 Flemish artisans in London. English 
workmen had been jealous of their skill, and had long 
looked askance at them. The cry rose that they had 
an army of traitors in their midst who must be instantly 
expelled. The Flemings' houses were searched for 
arms, and watched by a guard, and the working city 
population, traders, shopkeepers, mechanics, appren- 
tices, came over to the King's side, and remained 
there. 

Meantime the cause itself hung fire. A new fea- 
ture had been introduced to enable Campeggio to de- 
cline to proceed and the Pope to withdraw decently 
from his promises. The original Bull of Pope Julius 
permitting the marriage had been found to contain 
irregularities of form which were supposed fatal to it. 
The validity of the objection was not denied, but was 
met by the production of a brief alleged to have been 
found in Spain, and bearing the same date with the 
Bull, which exactly met that objection. No trace of 
such a brief could be found in the Vatican Register. 
It had informalities of its own, and its genuineness 
was justly suspected, but it answered the purpose of 
a new circumstance. A copy only was sent to Eng- 
land, which was shown by Catherine in triumph to 
Henry, but the original was detained. It would be 
sent to Rome, but not to London; without it Cam- 
peggio could pretend inability to move, and meanwhile 
he could refuse to proceed on his commission. Sub- 
terfuges which answer for the moment revenge them- 
selves in the end. Having been once raised, it was 
absolutely necessary that a question immediately affect- 
ing the succession should be settled in some way, and 



84 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

many of the peers who had been hitherto cool began 
to back the King's demands. An address was drawn 
up, having among others the Duke of Norfolk's sig- 
nature, telling the Pope that the divorce must be con- 
ceded, and complaints were sent through Casalis 
againt Campeggio's dilatoriness. The King, he was 
to say, would not submit to be deluded. 

Casalis delivered his message, and describes the 
effect which it produced. "The Pope," he wrote, 
"very angry, laid his hand on my arm and forbade 
me to proceed, saying there was but too good ground 
for complaint, and he was deluded by his own coun- 
cillors. He had granted the decretal only to be shown 
to the King, and then burnt. Wolsey now wished to 
divulge it. He saw what would follow, and would 
gladly recall what had been done, even with the loss 
of one of his fingers." 

Casalis replied that Wolsey wished only to show it 
to a few persons whose secrecy might be depended on. 
Was it not demanded for that purpose? Why had 
the Pope changed his mind? The Pope, only the more 
excited, said he saw the Bull would be the ruin of 
him, and he would make no more concessions. Casalis 
prayed him to consider. Waving his arms violently, 
Clement said, "I do consider. I consider the ruin 
which is hanging over me. I repent what I have 
done. If heresies arise, is it my fault? I will not 
violate my conscience. Let them, if they like, send 
the Legate back, because he will not proceed. They 
can do as they please, provided they do not make me 
responsible." 

Did the Pope mean, then, Casalis asked, that the 
commission should not proceed? The Pope could 
not say as much as that; he had told Campeggio, he 
said, to dissuade the King and persuade the Queen. 



The Pope's Perplexities. 85 

"What harm could there be," Casalis inquired, "in 
showing the decretal, under oath, to a few of the 
Privy Council ? " 

The Pope said the decretal ought to have been 
burnt, and refused to discuss the matter further. 1 

1 John Casalis to Wolsey, Dec. 17, 1528. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. iv. part 2, p. 2186. 



CHAPTER V. 

Demands of the Imperial Agent at Rome — The alleged Brief — Illness 
of the Pope — Aspirations of Wolsey — The Pope recovers — Impe- 
rial menaces — Clement between the anvil and the hammer — Ap- 
peal of Henry to Francis — The trial of the cause to proceed — In- 
structions to Campeggio — Opinion at Rome — Recall of Mendoza 
— Final interview between Mendoza and the King. 

Human pity is due to the unfortunate Pope — Vicar 
of Christ, supreme judge in Europe, whose decrees 
were the inspirations of the Holy Ghost — spinning 
like a whipped top under the alternate lashes of the 
King of England and the Emperor. He had hoped 
that his decretal would not be known. It could not 
be concealed from Mendoza, who discovered, putting 
the worst interpretation upon it, "that the Pope and 
King had been endeavouring to intimidate the Queen 
into retiring into a convent." Finding that he, too, 
could put no faith in Clement, the Emperor's repre- 
sentative at Rome now forced a new promise from him. 
The proceedings in England were not to be opened 
without a fresh direct order from the Pope, and this 
the Pope was to be forbidden to give. If the King- 
was obstinate and the Queen demanded it, Campeg- 
gio was to leave England, and, notwithstanding his 
engagements to the contrary, Clement was to advocate 
the cause to Rome. The new brief was sufficient plea. 
Without it the Legates could come to no conclusion, 
"the whole right of the Queen being based upon its 



The Bull and the Brief. 87 

contents." The Emperor had it in his hands, and 
by refusing to allow it to be examined, except at 
Rome, might prevent them from moving. 

There was little doubt that the brief had been forged 
for the occasion. The Pope having sent a commission 
to England, the King considered that he had a right 
to the production of documents essential to the case. 
He required Catherine to write to Charles to ask for 
it. Catherine did as he desired, and the messenger 
who carried her letter to the Spanish Court was sworn 
to carry no private or separate missive from her. 
Mendoza dared not write by the same hand himself, 
lest his despatches should be examined. He made the 
messenger, therefore, learn a few words by heart, tell- 
ing the Emperor that the Queen's letter was not to be 
attended to. "We thought, "he said, "that the man's 
oath was thus saved." 1 Thus time drifted on. The 
new year came, and no progress had been made, 
though Campeggio had been three months in England. 
The Pope, more helpless than dishonest, continued to 
assure the King that he woidd do all that by law could 
be required of him, and as much as he could do ex 
plenitudirie potcstatis. No peril should prevent him. 
" If the King thought his resigning the Papacy would 
conduce to his purpose, he could be content, for the 
love he bore his Highness, rather than fail to do the 
same." 

If the Pope was so well disposed, the King could 
not see where the difficulty lay. The Queen had re- 
fused his entreaty that she should enter religion. 
Why should not the Pope, then, allow the decretal to 
be put in execution? But Cardinal Salviati informed 

1 Mendoza to Charles V., Feb. 4, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iii, 
part 2. 



88 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Casalis that a sentence given in virtue of the decretal 
would have no effect, but would only cause the Pope's 
deposition. 1 Visibly and unpleasantly it became now 
apparent to Henry to what issues the struggle was 
tending. He had not expected it. Wolsey had tol 1 
him that the Pope would yield; and the Pope had 
promised what was asked ; but his promises were turn- 
ing to vapour. Wolsey had said that the Emperor 
could not afford to quarrel with him. The King 
found that war with the Emperor in earnest was likely 
enough unless he himself drew back, and draw back 
he would not. The poor Pope was as anxious as 
Henry. He had spoken of resigning. He was near 
being spared the trouble. Harassed beyond his 
strength, he fell ill, and was expected to die; and 
before Wolsey there was now apparently the strange 
alternative either of utter disgrace or of himself as- 
cending the chair of St. Peter as Clement's successor. 
His election, perhaps, was really among the chances of 
the situation. The Cardinals had mot forgiven the 
sack of Rome. A French or English candidate had 
a fair prospect of success, and Wolsey could command 
the French interest. He had boundless money, and 
money in the Sacred College was only not omnipotent. 
He undertook, if he was chosen, to resign his enor- 
mous English preferments and reside at Rome, and 
the vacancy of his three bishoprics and his abbey 
would pour a cataract of gold into the Cardinals' 
purses. The Bulls for English bishoprics had to be 
paid for on a scale which startled Wolsey himself. 
Already archbishop of York, bishop of Winchester, 
and abbot of St. Albans, he had just been presented 
to Durham. He had paid 8,000 ducats to "expedite" 

1 Knight and Benet to Wolsey, Jan. 8, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign 
and Domestic, vol, iv. part 3, p. 2262. 



Influences at Rome. 89 

his Bulls for Winchester. The Cardinals demanded 
13,000 ducats for Durham. The ducat was worth five 
shillings, and five shillings in 1528 were worth fifty 
shillings of modern money. At such a rate were Eng- 
lish preferments bled to support the College of Cardi- 
nals ; and if all these great benefices were again vacated 
there would be a fine harvest to be gathered. For a 
week or two the splendid vision suspended even the 
agitation over the divorce ; but the Pope revived, and 
the Legates and he had to resume their ungrateful 
burden. 

It was still really uncertain what Clement would 
do. Weak, impulsive men often leave their course to 
fate or chance to decide for them. Casalis, when he 
was able to attend to business again, told him in Wol- 
sey's name that he must take warning from his late 
danger. "By the wilfully suffering a thing of such 
high importance to be unref ormed to the doing whereof 
Almighty God worked so openly he would incur God's 
displeasure and peril his soul." The Imperialists 
were as anxious as Wolsey, and equally distrustful. 
In the Sacred College English gold was an influence 
not to be despised, and Henry had more to give than 
Charles. Micer Mai, the Imperial agent at Rome, 
found, as the spring came on, that the Italian Cardi- 
nals were growing cold. Salviati insisted to him that 
Catherine must go into a convent. Casalis denounced 
the new brief as a forgery, and the Sacred College 
seemed to be of the same opinion. The fiery Mai 
complained in the Pope's presence of the scant cour- 
tesy which the Ministers of the Emperor were meeting 
with, while the insolent and overbearing; were regaled 
like the Prodigal Son. 1 The Pope assured him that, 

1 Mai to Charles V., April 3, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iii. part 
2, p. 973. 



90 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

come what might, he would never authorise the divorce , 
but Mai only partially believed him. At trying 
moments Mai was even inclining to take the same view 
of the Papacy as Lope de Soria. "At other times," 
he said, "many things could be got out of the Pope by 
sheer intimidation ; but now that could not be tried, 
for he would fall into despair, and the Imperialists 
would lose him altogether. They owed him something 
for what he had done for them before, otherwise he 
would be of opinion that it would be for God's service 
to reduce them to their spiritual powers." 1 

Occasionally Mai's temper broke through, and he 
used language worth observing. One of the Cardi- 
nals had spoken slightingly of the Emperor. 

"I did not call on his Holiness," he wrote to Charles, 
"but sent him a message, adding that, if ever it came 
to my notice that the same Cardinal, or any member 
of the College, had dared to speak in such an indecent 
manner of the Emperor, I took my most solemn oath 
that I would have him beheaded or burnt alive within 
his own apartment. I had this time refrained out of 
respect for his Holiness; but should the insult be 
repeated I would not hesitate. They might do as they 
would with their Bulls and other rogueries — grant or 
refuse them as they liked ; but they were not to speak 
evil of princes, or make themselves judges in the affairs 
\}i kingdoms." 2 

This remarkable message was conveyed to the Pope, 
who seemed rather pleased than otherwise. Mai, how- 
ever, observed that the revolt of the Lutherans was 

1 Micer Mai to the Emperor, May 11, 1529. — Ibid. vol. iv. part 1, 
p. 20. 

2 In Spanish the words are even more emphatically contemptuous : 
" Y que ennoramala que se curasen de sus hulas y de sus hellaquerias, 
si las querian dar 6 no dar, y que no pongan lengua en los reyes y querir 
ser jueces de la suhjeccion de los reynos." 



Imperial Menaces. 91 

not to be wondered at, and in what they said of Rome 
he considered that they were entirely right, except on 
points of faith. x 

Cardinals had been roughly handled in the sack of 
the Holy City at but a year's distance. The possi- 
bility was extremely real. The Imperial Minister, 
it appeared, could still command the services of the 
Spanish garrisons in the Papal territories if severity 
was needed, and the members of the Sacred College 
had good reason to be uneasy ; but King Henry might 
reasonably object to the trial of his cause in a country 
where the assessors of the supreme judge were liable 
to summary execution if they were insubordinate. 
That Charles could allow his representative to write 
in such terms to him proves that he and Mai, and 
Henry himself, were in tolerable agreement on Church 
questions. The Pope knew it; one of his chief fears 
was that the Emperor, France, England, and the Ger- 
man Princes, might come to an understanding to his 
own disadvantage. Perhaps it might have been so 
had not the divorce kept Henry and Charles apart. 
Campeggio wrote to Sanga on the 3rd of April that 
certain advances had been made by the Lutherans to 
Henry, in which they promised to relinquish all here- 
sies on articles of faith, and to believe according to 
Divine law if he and the King of France would reduce 
the ecclesiastical state to the condition of the Primitive 
Church, taking from it all its temporalities. He had 
told the King this was the Devil dressed in angel's 
clothing, a mere design against the property of the 
Church ; and that it had been ruled by councils and 
theologians that it was right for the Church to hold 
temporal property. The King said those rules had 

1 Micer Mai to the Emperor, June 5, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iv. part 1, p. 60. 



92 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

been made by Churchmen themselves, and now the 
laity must interfere. He said also that Churchmen 
were said to be leading wicked lives, especially about 
the Court of Rome. 1 

Growled at on both sides, in terror for himself, in 
terror for the Church, the Pope drifted on, hoping- for 
some accident to save him which never came, and 
wishing perhaps that his ilbiess had made an end of 
him. 

The Emperor complained of Campeggio as partial 
to the King because he held an English bishopric. 
"If the Pope leaves the succession undetermined," 
insisted Wolsey, on the other side, "no Prince would 
tolerate such an injury." "Nothing was done," wrote 
the Pope's secretary to Campeggio, "and nothing 
would be done. The Pope was in great trouble be- 
tween the English and Imperial Ambassadors. He 
wished to please the King, but the King and Cardinal 
must not expect him to move till they had forced the 
Venetians to restore the Papal territories." Stephen 
Gardiner, who knew Clement well and watched him 
from day to day, said: "He was a man who never 
resolved anything unless compelled by some violent 
affection. He was in great perplexity, and seemed 
willing to gratify the King if he could, but when it 
came to the point did nothing. He would be glad if 
the King's cause could be determined in England by 
the Legates ; and if the Emperor made any suit against 
what should be done there, they would serve him as 
they now served the King, and put off the time." So 
matters would go on, "unless Campeggio would frankly 
promise to give sentence in the King's favour; other- 

1 Campeggio to Sanga, April 3, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. iv. p. 2379. 



The Popes Hesitations. 93 

wise such delays would be found as the counterfeit 
Brief had caused." 1 Sir Francis Bryan, who was also 
at the Papal court, wrote to the King- that the Pope 
would do nothing for him, and whoever had told the 
King that he would, had not done him the best ser- 
vice. "He was very sorry to write thus, but the King- 
must not be fed with their flattering words." 2 

To wait longer on the Pope's action was now seen 
in England to be useless. The Pope dared not offend 
the Emperor further, and the Emperor had interposed 
to prohibit future action. Clement had himself sev- 
eral times suggested that the best way was to decide 
the case first in England in the Legate's court, and 
leave Catherine to appeal ; he had promised Charles 
that no judgment should be given in England by the 
Legates ; but he had worn so double a face that no 
one could say which truly belonged to him. Gardiner 
and Bryan were recalled. The King, finding the 
Pope's ingratitude, "resolved to dissemble with him, 
and proceed on the commission granted to Wolsey and 
Campeggio." 3 The Cardinal of York encouraged his 
brother Legate by assuring him that if the marriage 
was now dissolved means would be found to satisfy the 
Emperor. Catherine would be left with her state 
undiminished, would have anything that she desired 
"except the person of the King." The Emperor's 
natural daughter might be married to the Duke of 
Richmond, and all would be well. 4 

So Wolsey wrote, but his mind was less easy than 

1 Gardiner to Henry VIII., April 21. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. iv. p. 2415. 

2 Bryan to Henry VIII. — Ibid. p. 2418. 

3 Wolsey to Gardiner, May 5, 1529. — Ibid. p. 2442. 

4 Campeggio to Salviati, May 12, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, p. 2451. 



94 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

he pretended. Unless Henry was supported actively 
by the French, he knew that the Pope would fail him 
in the end; and Francis had been disappointed in the 
hope that Henry would stand actively by him in the 
war. Without effectual help from that quarter, Wol- 
sey saw that he was himself undone. The French 
Ambassador represented to his Court that Wolsey was 
sincerely attached to the French alliance, that the 
King- had only been induced to enterprise the affair 
by the assurance which the Cardinal had always given 
that he had nothing to fear from the Emperor ; Wolsey 
had advanced the divorce as a "means to break off 
for ever the alliance with the Emperor "y and Fran- 
cis, by now declaring himself, would confer a very 
great favour on the King, and would oblige Wol- 
sey as much as if he had made him pope. 1 His 
master was not only now concerned for the discharge 
of his conscience and his desire to have issue, but 
the very safety and independence of England was at 
stake. He could not have it said that he left the 
succession to the throne uncleared for the threats of 
his enemy. 2 

The Duke of Suffolk was despatched to Paris to 
bring Francis to the point. Francis professed the 
warmest good-will to his brother of England. He 
undertook to advise the Pope. He assured Suffolk 
that if the Emperor attempted force Henry would find 
him at his side ; but further he would not pledge him- 
self. The time was past for a Wolsey patriarchate, 
and Francis, curiously enough, expressed doubts 
whether Wolsey was not after all betraying Henry. 
"There are some," he said, "which the King my bro- 

1 Du Bellay to Montmorency, May 22, 1529. — Ibid. vol. iv. p. 24G9. 

2 Ibid. May 28, 1529, p. 2476-7. 



Resolution to proceed. 95 

ther doth trust in that matter that would it should 
never take effect. Campeggio told me he did not 
think the divorce would be brought about, but should 
be dissembled well enough. When the Cardinal of 
England was with me, as far as I could perceive, 
he desired the divorce might take place, for he 
loved not the Queen ; but I advise my brother not 
to trust any man too much, and to look to his own 
matters. The Cardinal has great intelligence with 
the Pope, and Campeggio and they are not inclined 
to it." 1 

Things could not go on thus for ever. There would 
have been an excuse for Clement, if with a conscious- 
ness of his high office he had refused to anticipate a 
judgment till the case had been heard and considered. 
But from the first the right or wrong of the cause 
itself had been disregarded as of no moment. No- 
thing had been thought of but the alternate dangers to 
be anticipated from the King or the Emperor. Had 
the French driven the Imperialists out of Italy, the 
divorce would have been granted without further ques- 
tion. The supreme tribunal in Christendom was trans- 
parently influenced by no motive save interest or fear. 
Clement, in fact, had anticipated judgment, though 
he dared not avow it. He had appointed a commis- 
sion, and by the secret decretal had ruled what the 
decision was to be. The decretal could not be pro- 
duced, but, with or without it, the King insisted that 
the court should sit. Campeggio had been sent to try 
the cause, and try it he should. Notice was given that 
the suit was to be heard at the end of June. Wolsey 
perhaps had chosen a date not far from the close of 

1 The Duke of Suffolk to Henry VIII., June 4, 1529. — Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. p. 2491. 



96 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

term, that the vacation might suspend the process, 
and give time for further delay. 

Since a trial of some kind coidd not be avoided, 
final instructions were sent from Rome to Campeggio. 
"If," wrote Sanga to him, "the Pope was not certain 
that he remembered the injunctions which he gave him 
by word of mouth, and which had been written to him 
many times, he would be very anxious. His Holiness 
had always desired that the cause should be protracted 
in order to find some means by which he could satisfy 
the King without proceeding to sentence. The cita- 
tion of the cause to Rome, which he had so often in- 
sisted on, had been deferred, not because it was 
doubted whether the matter could be treated with less 
scandal at Rome than there, but because His Holi- 
ness had ever shrunk from a step which would offend 
the King. But, since Campeggio had not been able 
to prevent the commencement of the proceedings, His 
Holiness warned him that the process must be slow, 
and that no sentence must in any manner be pro- 
nounced. He would not lack a thousand means and 
pretexts, if on no other point, at least upon the brief 
which had been produced." 1 

According to Casalis the view taken of the general 
situation at Rome was this. 

" The Pope would not declare openly for the Em- 
peror till he saw how matters went. He thought the 
Emperor would come to Italy, and if there was a war 
would be victorious, so that it would be for His Holi- 
ness's advantage to obtain his friendship beforehand. 
If peace was made the Emperor would dictate terms, 
and more was to be hoped from his help than from the 

1 Sanga to Campeggio, May 29, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. iv. p. 2479. 



Recall of Mendoza. 97 

French King. The Emperor was the enemy of the 
Allies, and sought to recover the honour which he lost 
by the sack of Rome by making himself protector of 
the Pope." 1 

Wolsey's dream was over, and with it the dreams 
of Lope de Soria and Micer Mai. The fine project to 
unite France and England in defence of the Papacy 
was proving baseless as the sand on which it was built. 
Henry VIII. was to lead the reform of the Church in 
England. Charles, instead of beheading cardinals, 
was to become the champion of the Roman hierarchy. 
The air was clearing. The parties in the great game 
were drifting into their natural situations. The fate 
which lay before Wolsey himself, the fate which lay 
before the Church of England, of the worst corrup- 
tions of which he was himself the chief protector and 
example, his own conscience enabled him too surely to 
foresee. 

Mendoza was recalled, and before leaving had an 
interview with the King. "The Emperor," he said, 
"was obliged to defend his aunt. It was a private 
affair, which touched the honour of his family." The 
King answered that the Emperor had no right to in- 
terfere. He did not meddle himself with the private 
affairs of other princes. Mendoza was unable to guess 
what was likely to happen. The suit was to go on. 
If a prohibitory mandate arrived from the Pope, it 
was uncertain whether Wolsey would obey it, and it 
was doubtful also whether any such mandate would be 
sent. He suspected Clement of possible deliberate 
treachery. He believed that orders had been sent to 
the Legate to proceed, and give sentence in virtue of 

1 Casalis to Wolsey, June 13, 152'.). — Calendar, Foreign and Domes- 
tic, pp. 2507-8. 



98 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

the first commission. In that case the sentence would 
certainly be against the Queen, and not a moment 
must be lost in pressing an appeal to Rome. 1 

1 Mendoza to Charles V., June 17, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. %. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Court at Blaekfriars — The point at issue — The Pope's compe- 
tency as judge — Catherine appeals to Koine — Imperial pressure 
upon Clement — The Emperor insists on the Pope's admission of the 
appeal — Henry demands sentence — Interference of Bishop Fisher 
— The Legates refuse to give judgment — The Court broken up — 
Peace of Cambray. 

The great scene in the hall at the Blackfriars when 
the cause of Henry VIII. and Catherine of Aragon 
was pleaded, before Wolsey and Campeggio is too well 
known to require further description. To the Legates 
it was a splendid farce. They knew that it was to 
end in nothing. The world outside, even the parties 
chiefly concerned, were uncertain what the Pope in- 
tended, and waited for the event to determine their 
subsequent conduct. There was more at issue than 
the immediate question before the Court. The point 
really at stake was, whether the interests of the Eng- 
lish nation could be trusted any longer to a judge who 
was degrading his office by allowing himself to be in- 
fluenced by personal fears and interests; who, when 
called on to permit sentence to be delivered, by dele- 
gates whom he had himself appointed, yet confessed 
himself unable, or unwilling, to decide whether it 
should be delivered or not. Abstractly Henry's de- 
mand was right. A marriage with a brother's wife 
was not lawful, and no Papal dispensation could make 
it so; but long custom had sanctioned what in itself 
was forbidden. The Pope could plead the undisputed 



100 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

usage of centuries, and if when the case was first sub- 
mitted to him he had unequivocally answered that a 
marriage contracted bond fide under his predecessor's 
sanction could not be broken, English opinion, it is 
likely, would have sustained him, even at the risk of 
a disputed succession, and the King himself would 
have dropped his suit. But the Pope, as a weak mor- 
tal, had wished to please a powerful sovereign. He 
had entertained the King's petition; he had hesitated, 
had professed inability to come to a conclusion, 
finally had declared that justice was on the King's 
side, and had promised that it should be so declared. 
If he now drew back, broke his engagements, and 
raised new difficulties in the settlement of a doubt 
which the long discussion of it had made serious; if 
he allowed it to be seen that his change of purpose 
was due to the menaces of another secular Prince, 
was such a judge to be any longer tolerated? Was 
not the Papacy itself degenerate, and unfit to exercise 
any longer the authority which it had been allowed 
to assume? This aspect of the matter was not a 
farce at all. The Papal supremacy itself was on its 
trial. 

On the 16th of June the King and Queen were 
cited to appear in court. Catherine was unprepared. 
i She had been assured by the Emperor that her cause 
should not be tried in England. She called on Cam- 
peggio to explain. Campeggio answered that the Pope, 
having deputed two Legates for the process, could not 
revoke their commission without grave consideration. 
He exhorted her to pray God to enlighten her to take 
some good advice, considering the times. He was not 
without hope that, at the last extremity, she would 
yield and take the vows. But she did not in the least 
accede to his hints, and no one could tell what she 



The Court at Blackfriars. 101 

meant to do. 1 She soon showed what she meant to 
do. On the 18th the court sate. Henry appeared by 
a proctor, who said for him that he had scruples about 
the validity of his marriage, which he required to be 
resolved. Catherine attended in person, rose, and 
delivered a brief protest against the place of trial and 
the competency of the judges. Wolsey was an Eng- 
lish subject, Campeggio held an English bishopric. 
They were not impartial. She demanded to be heard 
at Rome, delivered her protest in writing, and with- 
drew. 

It was at once answered for the King that he could 
not plead in a city where the Emperor was master. 
The court adjourned for three days that the Cardinals 
might consider. On the 21st they sate again. The 
scene became more august. Henry came now himself, 
and took his place under a canopy at the Legates' 
right hand. Catherine attended again, and sate in 
equal state at their left. Henry spoke. He said he 
believed that he had been in mortal sin. He could 
bear it no longer, and required judgment. Wolsey 
replied that they would do what was just; and then 
Catherine left her seat, crossed in front of them, and 
knelt at her husband's feet. She had been his lawful 
wife, she said, for twenty years, and had not deserved 
to be repudiated and put to shame. She begged him 
to remember their daughter, to remember her own 
relations, Charles and Ferdinand, who would be 
gravely offended. Crowds of women, gathered about 
the palace gates, had cheered her as she came in, and 
bade her care for nothing. If women had to decide 
the case, said the French Ambassador, the Queen 
would win. Their voices availed nothing. She was 

1 Campeggio to Salviati, June lti, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. iv. p. 2509. 



102 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

told that her protest could not be admitted. She then 
left the court, was thrice summoned to come back, 
and, as she refused, was pronounced contumacious. 

For the King to appear as a suitor at Rome was 
justly regarded as impossible. Casalis was directed 
to tell Clement that, being in the Emperor's hands, 
he could not be accepted as a judge in the case, and 
that sovereign princes were exempted by prerogative 
from pleading in courts outside their own dominions. 
If he admitted the Queen's appeal, he would lose the 
devotion of the King and of England to the See Apos- 
tolic, and woidd destroy Wolsey for ever. 1 Had the 
Legates been in earnest there would have been no time 
to learn whether the appeal was allowed at Rome or 
not ; they would have gone on and given sentence un- 
der their commission. It appeared as if this was what 
they intended to do. The court continued sitting. 
Catherine being contumacious, there was nothing left 
to delay the conclusion. She was in despair; she be- 
lieved herself betrayed. Mendoza, who might have 
comforted her, was gone. She wrote to him that she 
was lost unless the Emperor or the Pope interposed. 
Even Campeggio seemed to be ignorant how he was to 
avoid a decision. Campeggio, the French Ambassa- 
dor wrote, was already half conquered. If Francis 
would send a word to him, he might gather courage to 
pass sentence, and Henry would be brought to his 
knees in gratitude. The very Pope, perhaps, in his 
heart would not have been displeased if the Legates 
had disobeyed the orders which he had given, and had 
proceeded to judgment, as he had often desired that 
they might. Micer Mai's accounts to Charles of the 
shifts of the poor old man, as the accounts from Eng- 

1 Wolsey to Casalis, June 22, 1529. — Calendar, Foreiyn and Domes- 
tic, vol. jv. p. 2520. 



Micer Mai and the Poj>e. 103 

land reached him, are almost pathetic. Pope, Car- 
dinals, canon lawyers, Mai regarded as equally feeble, 
if not as equally treacherous. One reads with won- 
der the Spaniard's real estimate of the persons for 
whose sake and in whose name Charles and Philip 
were to paint Europe red with blood. 

"Salviati," said Mai, "who, though a great rogue, 
has not wit enough to hide his tricks, showed me the 
minute of a letter they had written to Campeggio : a 
more stupid or rascally composition could not have 
been concocted in hell." 1 Campeggio was directed 
in this letter to reveal to no one that he had received 
orders not to give sentence. He was to go on making 
delays, which was what "those people desired," be- 
cause, if he was to say that he would make #o declara- 
tion in the affair, the Archbishop of York would act 
by himself, the Pope's mandate having been origi- 
nally addressed to the two Legates conjointly or to 
one individually. The letter had gone on to direct 
Campeggio, if he could not manage this, to carry on 
the proceedings until the final sentence, but not de- 
liver sentence without first consulting Rome. If possi- 
ble, he was to keep this part of his instructions secret, 
for fear of displeasing the King. 

"I lost all patience," Mai continued. "Andrea de 
Burgo and I went to the Pope, and told him we had 
seen the instructions sent to Campeggio, which were 
of such a nature that if we were to inform your Maj- 
esty of their contents you would undoubtedly resent the 
manner in which you were being treated. We would 
not do that, but we would speak our minds plainly. 
The letter to Campeggio was a breach of faith so often 
pledged by his Holiness to your Majesty that the di- 
vorce suit should be advocated to Rome. The viola- 
1 " La mas necia y bellaca carta que se pudiera haeer en el Infierno," 



104 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

tion of such a promise and the writing to Campeggio 
to go on with the proceeding was a greater insult and 
offence to your Majesty than the commission given to 
him in the first instance. It was a wonder to see how 
lightly his Holiness held promises made in accordance 
with justice and reason. An offence of such a kind 
bore so much on the honour of your Majesty and the 
princes of the Imperial family, that your Majesty 
would not put up with it. The King would have but 
to ask Campeggio whether he would or would not give 
sentence, and, if he refused, the duty would then de- 
volve on the other Legate. His Holiness should be 
careful how he added fuel to the fire now raging in 
Christendom." 1 

It was «ot enough for Mai that the cause should 
be revoked to Rome. The English agents said that 
if an independent sovereign was to be forced to plead 
at Rome, the Pope must at least hear the suit in per- 
son. He must not refer it to the Rota. Mai would 
not hear of this. To the Rota it must go and no- 
where else. The Pope might mean well, but he might 
die and be succeeded by a pope of another sort, or the 
English might regain the influence they once had, and 
indeed had still, in the Papal court. They were great 
favourites, bribing right and left and spending money 
freely. 2 What was a miserable pope to do ? Casalis, 
and Dr. Benet who had joined him from England, 
pointed out the inevitable consequences if he allowed 
himself to be governed by the Emperor. The Pope 
replied with lamentations that none saw that better 
than he, but he was so placed between the hammer 
and the anvil, that, though he wished to please the 

1 Mai to Charles V., August 4, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, page 155 (abridged). 

2 Same to the same, August 28. — Ibid. p. 182. 



Process of the Suit. 105 

King, the whole storm would fall on him. The Em- 
peror would not endure an insult to his family, and 
had said that he regarded the cause more than all his 
kingdoms. Those were only ornaments of fortune, 
while this touched his honour. He would postpone 
the advocation for a few days, but it could not be 
refused. He was in the Emperor's power, and the 
Emperor could do as he pleased with him. 

The few days' respite meant a hope that news of 
some decisive act might arrive meanwhile from Eng- 
land. The King must determine, Casalis and Benet 
thought, whether it would be better to suspend the 
process at his own request, or to proceed to sentence 
before the advocation. 1 The Pope, the Commissioners 
added, was well disposed to the King, and would not 
refuse to shed his blood for him ; but in this cause and 
at this time he said it was impossible. 

While matters were going thus at Rome, the suit in 
England went forward. The Cardinals availed them- 
selves of every excuse for delay ; but in the presence 
of Catherine's determined refusal to recognise the 
court, delay became daily more difficult. The King 
pressed for judgment; formal obstacles were ex- 
hausted, and the Roman Legate must either produce 
his last instructions, which he had been ordered not 
to reveal, or there was nothing left for him to urge as 
a reason for further hesitation. It was not supposed 
that in the face of a distinct promise the Pope would 
revoke the commission. Campeggio and Wolsey were 
sitting with full powers to hear and determine. De- 
termine, it seemed, they must ; when, at the fifth ses- 
sion, uncalled on and unlooked for, the Bishop of 
Rochester rose and addressed the court. The King, 

1 Benet, Casalis, and Vannes to Henry VIII. — Calendar, Foreign 
and Domestic, vol. iv. pp. 2567-8. 



106 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

he said, had declared that his only intention was to 
have justice done, and to relieve himself of a scruple 
of conscience, and had invited the judges and every- 
one else to throw light upon a cause which distressed 
and perplexed him. He [the Bishop], having given 
two years' diligent study to the question, felt himself 
bound in consequence to declare his opinion, and not 
risk the damnation of his soul by withholding it. He 
undertook, therefore, to declare and demonstrate that 
the marriage of the King and Queen could be dissolved 
by no power, human or divine, and for that conclusion 
he was ready to lay down his life. The Baptist had 
held it glorious to die in a cause of marriage, when 
marriage was not so holy as it had been made by the 
shedding of Christ's blood. He was prepared to 
encounter any peril for the truth, and he ended by 
presenting his arguments in a written form. 1 

The Bishop's allusion to the Baptist was neither 
respectful nor felicitous. It implied that Henry, who 
as yet at least had punished no one for speaking freely, 
was no better than a Herod. Henry's case was that 
to marry a brother's wife was not lawful, and the 
Baptist was of the same opinion. The Legates an- 
swered quietly that the cause had not been committed 
to Fisher, and that it was not for him to pronounce 
judicially upon it. Wolsey complained that the Bishop 
had given him no notice of his intended interference. 
They continued to examine witnesses as if nothing had 
happened. But Fisher's action was not without effect. 
He was much respected. The public was divided on 
the merits of the general question. Many still thought 
the meaning of it to be merely that the King was tired 
of an old wife and wanted a young one. Courage is 

1 Campeggio to Salviati, June 29, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. iv. p. 2538. 



Campeggio refuses to pass Sentence. 107 

infectious, and comment grew loud and unfavourable. 
The popular voice might have been disregarded. But 
Campeggio, who had perhaps really wavered, not 
knowing what Clement wished him to do, gathered 
heart from Fisher's demonstration. " We are hurried 
on," he wrote to Salviati on the 13th of Juty, "always 
faster than a trot, so that some expect a sentence in 
ten days. ... I will not fail in my duty or office, nor 
rashly or willingly give offence to any one. When 
giving sentence I will have only God before my eyes 
and the honour of the Holy See." 1 A week later Du 
Bellay said that things were almost as the King wished, 
and the end was expected immediately, when Cam- 
peggio acted on the Pope's last verbal instructions at 
their parting at Rome. He was told to go on to the 
last, but must pause at the final extremity. He 
obeyed. When nothing was left but to pronounce 
judgment, he refused to speak it, and said that he 
must refer back to the Holy See. Wolsey declined to 
act without him, and Campeggio, when pressed, if we 
can believe his own account of what he said, answered : 
"Very well, I vote in favour of the marriage and the 
Queen. If my colleague agrees, well and good. If 
not, there can be no sentence, for we must both 
agree." 2 

Wolsey 's feelings must be conjectured, for he never 
revealed them. To the Commissioners at Rome he 
wrote : " Such discrepancies and contrariety of opinion 
has ensued here that the cause will be long delayed. 
In a week the process will have to cease, and two 
months of vacation ensue. Other counsels, therefore, 
are necessary, and it is important to act as if the advo- 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. p. 2581. 

2 Mai to Charles V., Sept. 3, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 
1, p. 195. 



108 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

cation was granted. Campeggio unites with me to 
urge the Pope, if it must be granted, to qualify the 
language ; for if the King be cited to appear in person 
or by proxy, and his prerogative be interfered with, 
none of his subjects will tolerate it; or if he appears 
in Italy it -will be at the head of a formidable army. 1 
A citation of the King to Rome on threat of excom- 
munication is no more tolerable than the whole loss 
of the King's dignity. If, therefore, the Pope has 
granted any such advocation, it must be revoked. If 
it arrives here before such a revocation, no mention 
of it shall be made, not even to the King." 2 

This was Wolsey's last effort. Before his despatch 
could reach Rome the resolution was taken. Had it 
arrived in time, it would have made no difference 
while Micer Mai was able to threaten to behead Car- 
dinals in their own apartments. The cause was ad- 
voked, as it was called — reserved to be heard in the 
Rota. The Legates' commission was cancelled. The 
court at Blackf riars was dissolved, as Campeggio said, 
in anger, shame, and disappointment. He had fulfilled 
his orders not without some alarm for himself as he 
thought of his bishopric of Salisbury. 

Catherine, springing from despondency into tri- 
umph, imagined that all was over. The suit, she 
thought, would be instantly recommenced at Rome, 
and the Pope would give judgment in her favour with- 
out further form. She was to learn a harsher lesson, 
and would have consulted better for her happiness if 
she had yielded to the Pope's advice and retired into 

1 This was not an idle boast. A united army of French and English 
might easily have marched across the Alps ; and nothing would have 
pleased Francis better than to have led such an army, with his brother 
of England at his side, to drive out the Emperor. 

2 Wolsey to Benet, etc., July 27. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, 
vol. iv. p. 2591. 



Peace of Cambray. 109 

seclusion. While the Legates were sitting in London, 
another conference was being- held at Cambray, to 
arrange conditions of European peace. France and 
the Empire adjusted their quarrels for another inter- 
val. The Pope and the Italian Princes were included 
— England was included also — and the divorce, the 
point of central discord between Henry and the Em- 
peror, was passed over in silence as too dangerous to 
be touched. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Call of Parliament — Wolsey to be called to account — Anxiety of the 
Emperor to prevent a quarrel — Mission of Eustace Chapuys — Long 
interview with the King — Alarm of Catherine — Growth of Luther- 
anisni — The English clergy — Lord Darcy's Articles against Wol- 
sey — Wolsey's fall — Departure of Campeggio — Letter of Henry 
to the Pope — Action of Parliament — Intended reform of the 
Church — Alienation of English feeling from the Papacy. 

On the collapse of the commission it was at once 
announced that the King would summon a Parliament. 
For many years Wolsey had governed England as he 
pleased. The King was now to take the reins in his 
own hands. The long-suffering laity were to make 
their voices heard, and the great Cardinal understood 
too well that he was to be called to account for his 
stewardship. The Queen, who could think of nothing 
but her own wrongs, conceived that the object must 
be some fresh violence to herself. She had requested 
the Pope to issue a minatory brief forbidding Parlia- 
ment to meddle with her. She had mistaken the pur- 
pose of its meeting, and she had mistaken the King's 
character. Important as the divorce question might 
be, a great nation had other things to think of which 
had waited too long. It had originated in an ambi- 
tious scheme of Wolsey to alter the balance of power 
in Europe, and to form a new combination which the 
English generally disliked. Had his policy been suc- 
cessful he would have been continued in office, with 
various consequences which might or might not have 



Call of Parliament. Ill 

been of advantage to the country. But he had failed 
miserably. He had drawn the King into a quarrel 
with his hereditary ally. He had entangled him, by 
ungrounded assurances, in a network of embarrass- 
ments, which had been made worse by the premature 
and indecent advancement of the Queen's intended 
successor. For this the Cardinal was not responsible. 
It was the King's own doing, and he had bitterly to 
pay for it. But Wolsey had misled his master into 
believing that there would be no difficulty. In the 
last critical moment he had not stood by him as the 
King had a right to expect; and, in the result, Henry 
found himself summoned to appear as a party before 
the Pope, the Pope himself being openly and confess- 
edly a creature in the hands of the Emperor. No 
English sovereign had ever before been placed in a 
situation so degrading. 

Parliament was to meet for other objects — objects 
which could not be attained while Wolsey was in power 
and were themselves of incalculable consequence. But 
Anne Boleyn was an embarrassment, and Henry did 
for the moment hesitate whether it might not be bet- 
ter to abandon her. He had no desire to break the 
unity of Christendom or to disturb the peace of his 
own kingdom for the sake of a pretty woman. The 
Duke of Norfolk, though he was Anne's uncle, if he 
did not oppose her intended elevation, did nothing to 
encourage it. Her father, Lord Wiltshire, had been 
against it from the first. The Peers and the people 
would be the sufferers from a disputed succession, but 
they seemed willing to encounter the risk, or at least 
they showed no eagerness for the King's marriage 
with this particular person. If Keginald Pole is to be 
believed, the King did once inform the Council that 
he would go no further with it. The Emperor, to 



112 The Divorce of Catherine of A rag on. 

make retreat easy to him, had allowed nothing to be 
said on the subject at Cambray, and had instructed 
the Pope to hold his hand and make no further move- 
ment. He sent a new Ambassador to England, on 
a mission of douleeur et amytie. Eustace Chapuys, 
the Minister whom he selected, was not perhaps the 
best selection which he could have made, and Lord 
Paget, who knew him well, has left an account of him 
not very favourable. "For Chapuys," he said, "I 
never took him for a wise man, but for one that used 
to speak cum summa licentid whatsoever came in bue- 
cam, without respect of honesty or truth, so it might 
serve his tarn, and of that fashion it is small mastery 
to be a wise man. He is a great practicer, with which 
honest term we cover tale-telling, lying, dissimuling, 
and flattering." 1 Chapuys being the authority for 
many of the scandals about Henry, this description of 
him by a competent observer may be borne in remem- 
brance; but there can be no question that Charles 
sent him to England on an embassy of peace, and one 
diplomatist is not always perhaps the fairest judge of 
another of the same trade. The King's hesitation, if 
he ever did hesitate, was not of long duration. He 
had been treated like a child, tricked, played with, 
trifled with, and he was a dangerous person to deal 
with in so light a fashion. Chapuys reached London 
in the beginning of September. On landing he found 
the citation to Rome had not been officially notified to 
the King, as a morsel too big for him to swallow. 2 
The King received him politely, invited him to dine in 
the palace, and allowed him afterwards to be intro- 
duced to Catherine, who was still residing at the court. 

1 Paget to Petre. — State Papers, Henry VIII., vol. x. p. 406. 

2 Chapuys to the Regent Margaret, Sept. 18, 1529. — Spanish Calen- 
dar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 214. 



Eustace Chapuys. 113 

Three days after he had a long interview with Henry. 
His commission, he said, was to smooth all differences 
between the King and his master. The King responded 
with equal graeionsness, but turned the conversation 
upon those differences themselves. The Emperor, he 
said, had not used him well. The advocation to Rome 
was absurd. He had written himself to the Pope with 
his own hand, telling him it was not only expedient 
but absolutely necessary that the cause should be tried 
in England. The Roman territories were still in the 
occupation of the Imperial troops. The Pope had 
committed it to two of his Cardinals, had solemnly 
promised that it should not be revoked, and that he 
would confirm any sentence which the Legates should 
pronounce. These engagements' the Emperor had 
obliged the Pope to break. He himself had not pro- 
ceeded upon light grounds. He was a conscientious 
prince, he said, who preferred his own salvation to all 
worldly advantages, as appeared sufficiently from his 
conduct in the affair. Had he been differently situ- 
ated and not attentive to his conscience, he might 
have adopted other measures, which he had not taken 
and never would take. 1 Chapuys attempted to defend 
Clement. "Enough of that pope," Henry sharply 
interrupted. "This is not the first time that he has 
changed his mind. I have long known his versatile 
and fickle nature." 2 The Pope, he went on, "would 
never dare pronounce sentence, unless it favoured the 
Emperor." 

Catherine was eagerly communicative. Chapuys 
learned from her that the King had offered that the 
case should be heard at Cambray — which she had, of 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Sept. 2. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, 
p. 225. 

2 Tbid. p. 229. 



114 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

course, refused. She was much alarmed about the 
Parliament, "the King- having played his cards so 
well that he would have a majority of votes in his fa- 
vour." It was quite certain that he meant to persevere. 
She professed outwardly that she was personally at- 
tached to the King ; yet she desired Chapuys expressly 
to caution the Emperor against believing that his con- 
duct had anything to do with conscience. The idea of 
separation, she said, had originated entirely in his own 
iniquity and malice, and when the treaty of Cambray 
was completed, he had announced it to her with the 
words: "My peace with the Emperor is made: it will 
last as long as you choose." x 

Chapuys had been charged to ascertain the feeling 
of the English people. He found them generally well 
affected to the Queen. But the Lutheran heresy was 
creeping in. The Duke of Suffolk had spoken bitterly 
of Papal legates, and Chapuys believed if they had 
nothing to fear but the Pope's malediction, there were 
great numbers who would follow the Duke's advice 
and make Popes of the King and Bishops, all to have 
the divorce case tried in England. 2 The Queen was 
afraid of pressing her appeal, fearing that if the Com- 
mons in Parliament heard that the King had been 
summoned to Rome, measures injurious to her might 
easily be proposed and carried. 3 Even the Duke of 
Norfolk was not satisfactory. He professed to be 
devoted to the Emperor ; he said he would willingly 
have lost a hand so that the divorce question shoidd 
never have been raised ; but it was an affair of theo- 
logy and canon law, and he had not meddled with it. 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Sept. 2, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. vi. 
part 1, pp. 236-7. 

2 Ibid. p. 2:*;. 

3 Jbid. p. 274. 



Church Reform. 115 

If the Emperor had remained neutral, instead of inter- 
fering, it would have been sooner settled. 1 

But, for the instant, the interests of the people of 
England were fixed on a subject more immediately 
close to them. The sins of the clergy had at last found 
them out. They pretended to be a supernatural order, 
to hold the keys of heaven and hell, to be persons too 
sacred for ordinary authority to touch. Their vices 
and their tyranny had made them and their fantastic 
assumptions no longer bearable, and all Europe was in 
revolt against the scandals of the Church and Church- 
men. The ecclesiastical courts, as the pretended guar- 
dians of morality, had the laity at their mercy ; and 
every offence, real or imaginary, was converted into 
an occasion of extortion. The courts were themselves 
nests of corruption; while the lives and habits of the 
order which they represented made ridiculous their 
affectations of superiority to common men. Clem- 
ent's conduct of the divorce case was only a supreme 
instance of the methods in which the clerical tribunals 
administered what they called justice. An authority 
equally oblivious of the common principles of right 
and wrong was extended over the private lives and 
language of every family in Catholic Christendom. 
In England the cup was full and the day of reckoning 
had arrived. I have related in the first volume of my 
history of the period the meeting of the Parliament of 
1529, and I have printed there the Petition of the 
Commons to the Crown, with the Bishops' reply to it. 2 
I need not repeat what has been written already. A 
few more words are needed, however, to explain the 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Sept. 2, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. vi. 
part 1, p. 294. 

2 The transcripts of these documents were furnished to me hy the 
late Sir Francis Palg-rave, who was then K 'eper of the Records. 



116 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

animosity which broke out against Wolsey. The 
great Cardinal was the living embodiment of the de- 
tested ecclesiastical domination, and a representation 
in his own person of the worst abuses complained of. 
He had been a vigorous Minister, full of large schemes 
and high ambitions. He had been conscious of much 
that was wrong. He had checked the eagerness of the 
bench of Bishops to interfere with opinion, had sup- 
pressed many of the most disorderly smaller monas- 
teries, and had founded colleges out of their revenues. 
But he had left his own life unreformed, as an exam- 
ple of avarice and pride. As Legate he had absorbed 
the control of the entire ecclesiastical organisation. 
He had trampled on the Peers. On himself he had 
piled benefice upon benefice. He held three great 
bishoprics, and, in addition to them, the wealthiest of 
the abbeys. York or Durham he had never entered; 
Winchester he may have visited in intervals of busi- 
ness ; and he resided occasionally at the Manor of the 
More, which belonged to St. Albans : but this was all 
his personal connection with offices to which duties 
were attached which he would have admitted to be 
sacred, if, perhaps, with a smile. As Legate and Lord 
Chancellor he disposed of the whole patronage of the 
realm. Every priest or abbot who needed a license 
had to pay Wolsey for it. His officials were busy in 
every diocese. Every will that was to be proved, every 
marriage within the forbidden degrees, had to pass 
under their eyes, and from their courts streams richer 
than Pactolus flowed into Wolsey' s coffers. Foreign 
princes, as we have seen, were eager to pile pensions 
upon him. His wealth was known to be enormous. 
How enormous was now to be revealed. Even his own 
son — for a son he had — was charged upon the com- 
monwealth. The worst iniquity of the times was the 



Lord Darcy of Tempi ehurst. 117 

appointing children to the cure of souls. Wolsey's 
boy was educated at Paris, and held benefices worth 
1,500 crowns a year, or 3,000 pounds of modern Eng- 
lish money. A political mistake had now destroyed 
his credit. His enemies were encouraged to speak, 
and the storm burst upon him. 

A list of detailed complaints against him survives 
which is curious alike from its contents, the time at 
which it was drawn up, and the person by whom it 
was composed — the old Lord Darcy of Templehurst, 
the leader afterwards in the Pilgrimage of Grace. 
Darcy was an earnest Catholic. He had fought in his 
youth under Ferdinand at the conquest of Granada. 
He was a dear friend of Ferdinand's daughter, and an 
earnest supporter, against Wolsey, of the Imperial 
alliance. His paper is long and the charges are thrown 
together without order. The date is the 1st of July, 
when the Legates' court had begun its sittings and 
was to end, as he might well suppose, in Catherine's 
ruin. They express the bitterness of Darcy's feelings. 
The briefest epitome is all that can be attempted of an 
indictment which extended over the whole of Wolsey's 
public career. It commences thus : — - 

"Hereafter followeth, by protestation, articles 
against the Cardinal of York, shewed by me, Thomas 
Darcy, only to discharge my oath and bounden duty 
to God and the King, and of no malice. 

"1. All articles that touches God and his Church 
and his acts against the same. 

"2. All that touches the King's estate, honour and 
prerogative, and against his laws. 

"3. Lack of justice, and using himself by his au- 
thority as Chancellor faculties legatine and cardinal; 
what wrongs, exactions he hath used. 

"4. All his authorities, legatine and other, pur- 



118 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

chased of the Pope, and offices and grants that he hath 
of the King's grace, special commissions and instruc- 
tions sent into every shire; he, and the Cardinal's 
servants, to be straitly examined of his unlawful 
acts." 

Following vaguely this distribution, Darcy proceeds 
with his catalogue of wrongs. Half the list is of re- 
forms commenced and unfinished, everything disturbed 
and nothing set right, to "the ruffling of the good 
order of the realm." Of direct offences we find Wol- 
sey unexpectedly accused of having broken the Prae- 
munire statute by introducing faculties from Rome 
and allowing the Pope to levy money in the realm 
contrary to the King's prerogative royal, while for 
himself, by "colour of his powers as Cardinal legate 
a latere and faculties spiritual and temporal, he had 
assembled marvellous and mighty sums of money." 
Of bishops, abbots, priors, deans, &c, he had re- 
ceived (other sums) for promotion spiritual since his 
entry. He had appropriated the plate and jewels of 
the suppressed abbeys. He had raised the "probate 
duty" all over the realm, the duty going into his own 
coffers. He had laid importable charges on the nobles 
of the realm. He had Towered, Fleeted, and put to 
the walls of Calais a number of the noblemen of Eng- 
land, and many of them for light causes. He had pro- 
moted none but such as served about the King to 
bring to pass his purposes, or were of his council in 
such things as an honest man would not vouchsafe to 
be acquainted with. He had hanged, pressed, and 
banished more men since he was in authority than had 
suffered death by way of justice in all Christendom 
besides. He had wasted the King's treasure, &c. 
He had levied mighty sums of other houses of religion, 
some for dread to be pulled down, and others by his 



Articles against Wolsey. 119 

feigned visitations under colour of virtuous reforma- 
tion. As Chancellor "he had taken up all the great 
matters depending in suit to determine after his dis- 
cretion, and would suffer no way to take effect that 
had been devised by other men." In other times "the 
best prelate in the realm was contented with one 
bishoprick." Darcy demanded that the duties of bish- 
ops should be looked into. They should hold no tem- 
poral offices, nor meddle with temporal affairs. They 
should seek no dispensation from the Pope. The 
tenure of land in England should be looked into, to 
find what temporal lands were in spiritual men's 
hands, by what titles, for what purposes, and whether 
it was followed or no. The King's grace should pro- 
ceed to determine all reformations, of spiritual and 
temporal, within his realm. Never more Legate nor 
Cardinal should be in England: these legacies and 
faculties should be clearly annulled and made frus- 
trate, and search and enquiry be made what had been 
levied thereby. He recommended that at once and 
without notice Wolsey 's papers and accounts should 
be seized. "Then matters much unknown would come 
forth surely concerning his affairs with Pope, Em- 
peror, the French King, other Princes, and within the 
realm." 1 

Many of Darcy 's charges are really creditable to 
Wolsey, many more are exaggerated ; but of the op- 
pressive character of his courts, and of the immense 
revenue which he drew from them, no denial was pos- 
sible. The special interest of the composition, how- 
ever, is that it expresses precisely the temper of the 
Parliament of 1529. It enables us to understand how 
the Chancellorship came to be accepted by Sir Thomas 

1 Cardinal Wolsey and Lord Darcy, July 1, 1529. — Calendar, For- 
eign and Domestic, vol. iv. pp. 2548-62. 



120 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

More. It contains the views of conservative Catholic 
English statesmen who, while they had no sympathy 
with changes of doctrine, were weary of ecclesiastical 
domination, who desired to restrict the rights of the 
Pope in England within the limits fixed by the laws 
of the Plantagenets, to relieve the clergy of their tem- 
poral powers and employments, and reduce them to 
their spiritual functions. Micer Mai and De Soria 
had said the same thing; Charles V., likely enough, 
shared their opinion, though he could not see his way 
towards acting upon it. In England it could be acted 
upon, and it was. 

There is no occasion to repeat the well-known tale 
of the fall of Wolsey. He resigned the seals on the 
18th of October; his property was seized and examined 
into. The Venetian Ambassador reported that his 
ordinary income was found to have been 150,000 
crowns, besides pensions, gifts from foreign princes, 
and irregular contributions from home. His personal 
effects were worth half a million more. He said that 
it had been all gathered for the King ; if the King was 
pleased to take it before his end, the King was wel- 
come to it. 

The King was thenceforward his own first minister ; 
the Duke of Norfolk became President of the Council ; 
Suffolk was Vice-President, and Sir Thomas More 
Lord Chancellor. But the King intended to rule with 
Parliament to advise and to help him. Catherine told 
Chapuys, in fear for herself, that the elections to the 
Lower House had been influenced to her own injury. 
She was mistaken, for the elections had not turned on 
the divorce. The object of the meeting of the Legis- 
lature was to reform the clergy, and upon this all par- 
ties among the laity were agreed. It may be (though 
the Queen could not know it) that exertions were 



Fall of Wolsey. 121 

made to counteract or control the local influences of 
individual nobles or prelates. If the object was to 
secure a real representation of popular feeling, it was 
right and necessary to protect the electors against 
the power of particular persons. But it is at least 
clear that this Parliament came up charged with the 
grievances of which Darcy's indictment was the 
epitome. 

The Houses met on the 3rd of November, and went 
at once to business. I can add nothing to what I have 
written elsewhere on the acts of the first session. 
Wolsey was impeached ; the Peers would have attainted 
him or sent him to trial for high treason; the Com- 
mons were more moderate, listening to Cromwell, who 
faced unpopularity by defending gallantly his old pa- 
tron. But the King himself did not wish the fallen 
Cardinal to be pressed too hard ; and it was said that, 
determined to protect him, he forbade the attainder. 
He had determined to pardon him, and an attainder 
would have made pardon more difficult. Very inter- 
esting accounts of Wolsey 's own behaviour in his 
calamity are found in the letters of the foreign Am- 
bassadors. Du Bellay saw him on the 17th of Octo- 
ber, the day before he surrendered the Great Seal, and 
found him entirely broken. He wept; he "hoped the 
French King and Madam would have pity on him." 
His face had lost its fire; "he did not desire legate- 
ship, seal of office, or power; he was ready to give up 
everything, to his shirt, and live in a hermitage, if the 
King would not keep him in his displeasure." He 
wished Francis to write to Henry in his favour. He 
had been the chief instrument of the present amity 
with France; and such a service ought not to have 
given a bad impression of him. Suspicions were 
abroad that he had received large presents from the 



122 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

French Court ; they were probably true, for he said 
" he hoped Madam would not do him an injury if it 
were spoken of." x 

Nothing could be more piteous. The poor old man 
was like a hunted animal; lately lord of the world, 
and now "none so poor to do him reverence." Darcy 
had raised the question of the Praemunire. The an- 
cient Statute of Pro visors had forbidden the introduc- 
tion of Bulls from Rome, and the statute was awake 
again. He was made to confess that the penalties of 
Praemunire — confiscation of goods and imprisonment 
— had been incurred by him when he published the 
Bull which made him Legate, and by the use of which 
he had unlawfully vexed the greater number of the 
prelates of the realm, and the King's other subjects. 

His brother Legate, Campeggio, had remained for 
some weeks in London after the dissolution of the 
court. But England was no place for him in the 
hurly-burly which had broken loose. He went, and 
had to submit to the indignity of having his luggage 
searched at Dover. The cause alleged was a fear that 
he might be taking with him some of Wolsey's jewels. 
Tradition said that he had obtained possession of the 
letters of the King to Anne Boleyn, and that it was 
through him that they reached the Vatican. At any 
rate, the locks were forced, the trunks inspected, and 
nothing of importance was found in them. 2 Campeg- 
gio complained to the King of the violation of his priv- 
ilege as ambassador. Henry told him ironically that 
he had suffered no wrong: his legateship was gone 
when the cause was revoked ; he had no other commis- 
sion: he was an English bishop, and so far, therefore, 

1 Du Bellay to Montmorency, Oct. 17, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. iv. pt. 3, p. 2675. 

2 Chapuys to the Emperor, Oct. 25, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iv. pt. 1, p. 304. 



The Divorce. 123 

an English subject. But a courteous apology was 
made for the unnecessary violence which had been 
used; 1 Campeggio's ruffled plumes were smoothed, 
and he wrote to Salviati from Paris with the latest 
news of Wolsey, telling him " that the King would not 
go to extremes, but would act considerately in the 
matter, as he was accustomed to do in all his actions." 2 

Although no mention was made in Parliament of 
the divorce, the subject, of course, could not sleep. 
The question of the succession to the crown having 
been made so prominent, it would, and must, sooner 
or later, come before the Legislature to be settled, and 
had already become a topic of general consideration 
and anxiety. Mary's legitimacy had been impugned. 
Falieri, writing from London and reporting what he 
heard in society, said that "by English law females 
were excluded from the throne." Custom might say 
so, for no female had, in fact, ever sat on the throne ; 
but enacted law or rule there was none : it was only 
one uncertainty the more. At any rate, Falieri said 
that the King had determined to go on with the di- 
vorce, that he might have a legitimate male heir. 

Henry's experience of Clement had taught him that 
he need not fear any further iimnediate steps. The 
advocation of the cause implied of itself a desire for 
longer delay, and, with more patience than might have 
been looked for in such a disappointment, he had 
resolved to wait for what the Pope would do. That 
an English sovereign should plead before the Rota at 
Rome was, of course, preposterous. The suggestion 
of it was an insult. But other means might be found. 
He had himself proposed Cambray as a neutral spot 

1 Hen. VIII. to Campeggio, Oct. 22, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. iv. p. 2677. 

2 To Salviati, Nov. 5. — Ibid. p. 2702. 



124 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

for a first commission; he really believed that the 
Pope was at heart on his side, and therefore did not 
wish to quarrel with him. When Campeggio was 
leaving England the King wrote to Clement more 
politely than might have been expected. He did 
not insist that the English commission should be re- 
newed. 

"We could have wished," he said, "not less for 
your sake than our own, that all things had been so 
expedited as corresponded to our expectation, not 
rashly conceived, but according to your promises. As 
it is, we have to regard with grief and wonder the 
incredible confusion which has arisen. If a Pope can 
relax Divine laws at his pleasure, surely he has as 
much power over human laws. We have been so often 
deceived by your Holiness 's promises that no depen- 
dence can be placed on them. Our dignity has not 
been consulted in the treatment which we have met 
with. If your Holiness will keep the cause now ad- 
voked to Rome in your own hands, until it can be 
decided by impartial judges, and in an indifferent 
place, in a manner satisfactory to our scruples, we will 
forget what is past, and repay kindness by kind- 
ness." 1 

As the Pope had professed to be ignorant of the 
extent of his dispensing power, the King proposed to 
submit this part of the question to the canon lawyers 
of Europe. The Nuncios, meanwhile, in Paris and 
London advised that the Pope and the Emperor should 
write in a friendly way to the King. Charles was 
believed in England to have said "that the King- 
should stick to his wife in spite of his beard." He 
had not used such words, and ought to disclaim them, 

1 Hen. VIII. to Clement VII. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, 
vol. iv. p. 2660. 



The Pope and the Emperor. 125 

but he might endeavour to persuade the King- to let 
the divorce drop. 

The Parliament meanwhile had been fiercelv busy 
in cutting- down the Church courts — abolishing or 
limiting- the various forms of extortion by which the 
laity had been plundered. The clergy were required 
to reside upon their benefices. "Pluralities" were 
restricted. The business of the session had been a 
series of Clergy Discipline Acts. The Bishop of 
Rochester especially clamoured over the "want of 
faith" which such Acts exhibited, but nothing had 
been done of which the Pope could complain, nothing 
of which, perhaps, he did not secretly approve. Cath- 
erine, through her agents at Rome, demanded instant 
sentence in her cause. The Pope's inclination seemed 
again on Henry's side. He described an interview 
with the Emperor, who had urged Catherine's case. 
He professed to have replied that he must be cautious 
when the case was not clear. Many things, he said, 
made for the King. All the divines were against the 
power of the Pope to dispense. Of the canon lawyers, 
some were against it; and those who were not against 
it considered that the dispensing powers could only be 
used for a very urgent cause, as, to prevent the ruin 
of a kingdom. The Pope's function was to judge 
whether such a cause had arisen ; but no such inquiry 
was made when the dispensation of Julius was granted. 
The Emperor must not be surprised if he could do no 
more for the Queen. 1 

The Emperor himself thought of nothing less than 
taking his uncle "by the beard." He wished to be 
reconciled to him if he could find a way to it. For 
one thing, he was in sore need of help against the 

i Casalis to Henry VIII., Dee. 26, 1529. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. iv. p. 2722. 



126 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Turks, and Chapuys was directed to ascertain if 
Henry would give him money. Henry's reply was 
not encouraging, and sounded ominously, as if his 
mind was making perilous progress on the great ques- 
tions of the day. He said it would be a foolish thing 
for him to remit money to the Emperor and help him 
to maintain three armies in Italy, which ought to be 
elsewhere. He had consulted his Parliament, and had 
found he could not grant it. The said money might 
be turned to other use, and be employed to promote 
dissension among Christian princes. 1 At a subse- 
quent interview the conversation was renewed and took 
a more general turn. The King spoke of the Court 
of Rome — the ambitious magnificence of which, he 
said, "had been the cause of so many wars, discords, 
and heresies." Had the Pope and Cardinals, he said, 
observed the precepts of the Gospel and attended to 
the example of the Fathers of the Church [several of 
whom the King mentioned, to Chapuys' surprise], 
they would have led a different life, and not have scan- 
dalised Christendom by their acts and manners. So 
far, Luther had told nothing but the truth ; and had 
Luther limited himself to inveighing against the vices, 
abuses, and errors of the clergy, instead of attacking 
the Sacraments of the Church, everyone would have 
gone with him ; he would himself have written in his 
favour, and taken pen in hand in his defence. Into 
the Church in his own dominions he hoped, little by 
little, to introduce reforms and end the scandal. 2 

These expressions were dangerous enough, but there 
was worse to follow. "Henry maintained that the 
only power which Churchmen had over laymen was 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 6, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 344. 
* Ibid. 



Tlie Pope and the Emperor. 127 

absolution from sin"; Chapuys found that he had 
told the Queen that he was now waiting for the opin- 
ions of the foreign doctors; when he had obtained 
these he would forward them to Rome; and should 
not the Pope, in conformity with the opinions so ex- 
pressed, declare the marriage null and void, he would 
denounce the Pope as a heretic and marry whom he 
pleased. 1 

"The Lady Anne," Chapuys said, "was growing 
impatient, complaining that she was wasting her time 
and youth to no purpose." The House of Commons 
had already "clipped the claws" of the clergy, and it 
was not impossible that, on the plea of the various and 
contradictory judgments on the matter, they and the 
people might consent to the divorce. 

The hope that the King might be held back by na- 
tional disapproval was thus seen to be waning. The 
national pride had been touched by the citation of an 
English sovereign to plead before a foreign court. 
Charles V. feared that the Pope, alarmed at the pros- 
pect of losing England, would "commit some new 
folly" which might lead to war. 2 The English Nun- 
cio in fact informed Chapuys, much to the latter's 
astonishment, that the Pope had ordered him to find 
means to reconcile the King and the Emperor. 
Chapuys thought the story most unlikely. The Em- 
peror woidd never have trusted the Pope with such a 
commission, nor was the Pope a promising mediator, 
seeing that he was more hated in England than might 
have been supposed. 

There were evident signs now that the country 
meant to support the King. The Duke of Norfolk 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 6, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 351. 

2 Charles V. to Ferdinand, Jan. 11, 1530. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. iv. p. 2742, 



128 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

told the Ambassador that unless the Emperor would 
permit his master to divorce the Queen and take 
another wife, there was no remedy left. The King's 
scruples of conscience, instead of abating, were on the 
increase, owing to the opinions of others who thought 
as he did, and no one in the world could turn him. 1 
Chapuys thought it more likely than not that the ques- 
tion would be introduced at once into Parliament, 
where he had heard that a majority had been bribed 
or gained over to the King's side. With the consent 
of the Commons he would consider himself secure all 
round. Should the Pope pronounce in favour of the 
Queen, the English would say that the sentence was 
unjust, for, besides the suspicion and ill-will they had 
towards the Pope and other ecclesiastical judges, they 
would allege that in confirming the Bull of Pope Ju- 
lius, the Pope and Cardinals would be only influenced 
by their own interest "to increase the authority of the 
Pope, and procure him money by such dispensations." 2 
At this moment Chapuys feared some precipitate 
step on Henry's part. Norfolk, whom he saw fre- 
quently, told him that "there was nothing which the 
King would not grant the Emperor to obtain his con- 
sent, even to becoming his slave for ever." 3 "The 
reform of the clergy was partly owing to the anger of 
the people at the advocation of the cause to Rome." 
"Nearly all the people hated the priests," Chapuys 
said — an important testimony from an unwilling wit- 
ness. Peers and Commons might be brought to agree 
that Popes could grant no dispensations in marriages 
or anything else, and so save their money. If there 
was nothing to restrain them but respect for the Pope, 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 9, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 359. 

2 Ibid. p. 361. 
8 Ibid. p. 366. 



Possible Return of Wolsey to Power. 129 

they would not care much for him, and the Holy See 
woidd have no more obedience in England than in 
Germany. The Duke of Norfolk talked as mena- 
cingly as the rest. He said publicly to the Ambassa- 
dor "that the Pope himself had been the first to per- 
ceive the invalidity of the marriage, had written to 
say that it could not stand, and would so declare him- 
self, or have it legally declared .... and now, 
being in the Emperor's power, the same Pope would 
have the case tried and determined only as the Empe- 
ror wished." 1 

Under these circumstances Chapuys could only ad- 
vise that means should be taken to weaken or defer 
the action of Parliament. The Cambray proposal 
might be revived, or a suggestion made that the cause 
should be argued before the Sorbonne at Paris. The 
Duke of Norfolk could perhaps be gained over; but, 
unfortunately, he and Queen Catherine were not on 
good terms. The Duke was afraid also — the words 
show how complicated were the threads which ruled 
the situation — that, should the King dismiss the Lady 
Anne, the Cardinal would in all probability regain his 
influence, owing to his uncommon ability and the 
King's readiness to restore him to favour. Everyone 
perceived the King bore the Cardinal no real ill-will, 
and should the King's affection for the lady abate in 
the least, the Cardinal would soon find means of set- 
tling the divorce in a manner which would cost the 
opposite party their lives. 2 In this letter of Chapuys 
is the first allusion which I have found to the Mary 
Boleyn scandal, then beginning to be heard of in cir- 
cles opposed to the divorce: "People say," he wrote, 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 9, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 367. 

2 Ibid. p. 368. 



130 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

"that it is the King's evil destiny that impels him; for 
had he, as he asserts, only attended to the voice of 
conscience, there would have been still greater affinity 
to contend with in this intended marriage than in that 
of the Queen his wife." 1 The story is referred to as 
a fresh feature of the case, which had not before been 
heard of. 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 9, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 369. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Hope of WoLsey to return to power — Anger of Anne Boleyn and the 
Duke of Norfolk — Charles V. at Bologna — Issue of a prohibitory 
brief— The Pope secretly on Henry's side — Collection of opinions 
- Norfolk warns Chapuys — State of feeling in England — Intrigues 
of Wolsey — His illness and death. 

The momentous year of 1529 wore out. Parlia- 
ment rose before Christinas ; Peers and Commons dis- 
persed to their homes; and the chief parties in the 
drama were still undetermined what next to do. The 
Duke of Norfolk was afraid of Wolsey 's return to 
power. It was less impossible than it seemed. A 
parliamentary impeachment, though let fall, ought to 
have been fatal; but none knew better than Wolsey 
by how transitory a link the parties who had combined 
for his ruin were really held together. More and 
Darcy had little sympathy with the advanced Reform- 
ers whose eyes were fixed on Germany. They agreed 
in cutting down the temporal encroachments of the 
clergy; they agreed in nothing besides. The King 
had treated Wolsey with exceptional forbearance. He 
had left him the Archbishopric of York, with an in- 
come equal in modern money to eight or ten thousand 
pounds a year, and had made him large presents 
besides of money, furniture, and jewels. Finding 
himself so leniently dealt with, the Cardinal recovered 
heart, and believed evidently that his day was not 
over. In a letter to Gardiner, written in January, 
1530, he complained as a hardship of having been 



132 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

made to surrender Winchester and St. Albans. He 
had not "deserved to lose them," he said, "and had 
not expected to lose them on his submission. His long 
services deserved at least a pension." 1 The King- 
agreed, or seemed to agree; for a further grant of 
3,000 crowns was allowed him, charged on the See of 
Winchester. Anne Boleyn was furious. The Duke 
of Norfolk swore that "sooner than suffer Wolsey's 
return to office he would eat him up alive." 2 Though 
he had never seen his diocese, the Cardinal was mak- 
ing no haste to go thither. He lingered on at Esher, 
expecting to be sent for, and it is evident from the 
alarm of his rivals that there was real likelihood of it. 
The Lady Anne so hated him that she quarrelled with 
her uncle Norfolk for not having pressed his attainder. 
Catherine liked him equally ill, for she regarded him 
as the cause of her sufferings. He had been "dis- 
evangelised," as Norfolk called it; but Henry missed 
at every turn his dexterity and readiness of hand. He 
had monopolised the whole business of the realm; the 
subordinate officials everywhere were his creatures, 
and the threads of every branch of administration had 
centred in his cabinet; without him there was univer- 
sal confusion. The French Court was strongly in his 
favour. He had himself made the Anglo-French 
alliance; and the Anglo-French alliance was still a 
necessity to Henry, if he meant to defy the Emperor 
and retain an influence at Rome. The King wished, 
if he could, to keep on terms with the Pope, and Wol- 
sey, if any one, could keep the Papal Court within 
limits of moderation. 

The situation was thus more critical than ever. 

1 Wolsey to Gardiner, Jan. 1530. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, 
vol. iv. p. 2763. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 6, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
pp. 449-50. 



General Uncertainty. 133 

Catherine knew not what to look for. Those among 
the peers who, like Norfolk, would naturally have 
been her friends, and would have preferred that the 
divorce should never have been spoken of, yet saw no 
reason why on a private ground the Emperor should 
light up a European war again. They conceived that 
by protesting he had done enough for his honour, and 
that he ought to advise his aunt to give way. Ac- 
cording to Chapuys, attempts were privately made to 
obtain a declaration of opinion from the House of 
Commons before Parliament rose. 1 He says that the 
attempts were unsuccessful. It may have been so. 

But Chapuys could not hope that the unwillingness 
would last. Charles was determined to stand by Cath- 
erine to all extremities. Henry was threatening to 
marry his mistress whether the Pope consented or not, 
professing to care not a straw, and almost calling the 
Pope a heretic. The Pope did not wish to be a party 
to a scandal, but also would be sorry to see the King 
lose all submission and reverence to the See of Rome. 
For himself, the Emperor said he coidd not see how 
the affair would end, "but he was certain that Henry 
would persist, and war would probably come of it." 
He directed his brother Ferdinand to avoid irritating 
the German Lutherans, as France might probably take 
part with England. 2 Fresh efforts were made to per- 
suade Catherine to take the veil. They were as un- 
successful as before. 3 

The Emperor was now in Italy. He had gone to 
Bologna for his coronation on the conclusion of the 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 31, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
p. 387. 

2 Charles V. to Ferdinand, Jan. 11, 1530. — Ibid. vol. iv. part 1, pp. 
405-6. 

3 Chapuys to Charles V., Feh. 6, 1530. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. iv. p. 2780. 



134 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Peace of Canibray, and the Pope was to be made to 
feel the weight of his Imperial presence. Henry used 
the occasion to send a deputation to Bologna, composed 
of the Earl of Wiltshire, Anne's father, who was per- 
sonally known to Charles, Dr. Cranmer, then coming 
into prominence, and Stokesly, the Bishop of London, 
who, having been first on Catherine's side, had been 
converted. They were directed to lay before the Em- 
peror the motives for the King's action, to protest 
against his interference, and to explain the certain 
consequences if he persisted in supporting the Queen. 
The Emperor gave a cold answer, and declined to 
hear the Earl's instructions, while the Pope, the Earl 
said, was led by the Emperor, and dared not displease 
him. The second act of the drama was now to open, 
and Clement was made to strike the first blow. In 
consequence of the reports from Catherine and Cha- 
puys that Henry was collecting the opinions of the 
canonists of Europe, and intended to act on them if 
favourable, a brief was issued on the 7th of March 
ordering the King to restore Catherine to her rights, 
and prohibiting him from making a second marriage 
while the suit was undetermined. The divines and 
lawyers of Catholic Europe were at the same time 
threatened with excommunication if they presumed to 
declare themselves favourable to the divorce. But 
though the voice was Clement's, the hand was the 
Emperor's. Clement was being dragged along against 
his will, and was still "facing both ways" in honest 
or dishonest irresolution. While issuing the brief 
under compulsion, he said precisely the opposite in his 
communication with the French Ambassador, the 
Bishop of Tarbes. The Ambassador was able to 
assure his own master that the Pope woidd never give 
sentence in Catherine's favour. In direct contradic- 



France, England, and Germany. 135 

tion of the brief, the Bishop wrote "that the Pope 
had told him more than three times in secret he would 
be glad if the marriage between Henry and Anne was 
already made, either by dispensation of the English 
Legate or otherwise, provided it was not by his au- 
thority or in diminution of his powers of dispensation 
and limitation of divine law." 1 In England the Pope 
had still his own Nuncio — a Nuncio who, as Chapuys 
declared, was "heart and soul" with the King. He 
was the brother of Sir Gregory Casalis, Henry's 
agent at Rome, and Henry was said to have promised 
him a bishopric as soon as his cause should be won. 
The Pope could not have been ignorant of the dispo- 
sition of his own Minister. 

Chapuys reported a mysterious State secret which 
had reached him through Catherine's physician. The 
Smalcaldic League was about to be formed among the 
Protestant Princes of Germany. Francis was inviting 
the King to support them and to join with himself in 
encouraging them to dethrone the Emperor ; the King 
was said to have agreed on the ground that the Pope 
and the Emperor had behaved ill to him, and the pro- 
bability was that both France and England in the end 
would become Lutheran. 

Had there been nothing else, the Queen's sterility 
was held a sufficient ground for the divorce. If she 
had been barren from the first, the marriage would 
have been held invalid at once. Now that the hope of 
succession was gone, the Pope, it was said, ought to 
have ended it. 2 

The King had been busy all the winter carrying out 
his project of collecting the opinions of the learned. 

1 Bishop of Tarbes to Francis I., from Bologna, March 27, 1530. — 
Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. iv. p. 2826. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 31, 1529. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iy, 
part 1, p. 394. 



136 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

The Pope's prohibition not having been issued in Eng- 
land, his own Bishops, the Universities, and the can- 
onists had declared themselves in favour of the divorce. 
The assent had not in all instances been given very 
willingly. Oxford and Cambridge had attempted a 
feeble resistance, and at Oxford the Commissioners 
had been pelted with stones. Still, given it had been, 
and the conservative Peers and gentry were coming to 
the same conclusion. The King was known to be wish- 
ing to recall Wolsey. The return of Wolsey to jjower 
might imply the acceptance of the French policy ; per- 
haps the alliance with the Lutherans — at any rate, 
war with the Emperor. The Duke of Norfolk and his 
friends were English aristocrats, adherents of the old 
traditions, dreading and despising German revolu- 
tionists; but they believed that the King and the 
Emperor could only be drawn together by Charles's 
consent to the divorce. The King, Norfolk said to 
Chapuys, was so much bent on it that no one but God 
could turn him. He believed it imperative for the 
welfare of the realm that his master should marry 
again and have male succession; he would give all 
that he possessed for an hour's interview with the 
Emperor; if his Majesty would but consent to the 
marriage, the friendship between him and the King 
would then be indissoluble ; x the divorce was nothing 
by the side of the larger interests at issue ; "the King," 
it was rumoured, "had written, or was about to write, 
to the Archbishop of Canterbury, that if the Pope 
persisted in refusing justice, his own and all Church 
authority would be at an end in England; " the nobles 
and people, provoked and hurt at the advocation of 
the suit to Rome, were daily more and more incensed 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 12, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 417. 



TJie Duke of Norfolk. 137 

against Churchmen, and would become Lutherans in 
the end. 1 The Pope had confessed that the presence 
of the Imperial army in Italy left him no liberty. If 
revolution came, the Emperor would be the cause of 
it. The Duke spoke with the indignation of an Eng- 
lishman at a rumour that the Emperor had "threat- 
ened to use all his power in the Queen's support." 
Such menaces, he said, were useless, and the nation 
would not endure them. Foreign princes had no au- 
thority over English kings. 

Chapuys did not mend matters by saying that the 
Emperor was not thinking of employing force, for he 
did not believe that the King would give occasion for 
it. The Emperor's interference, indeed, would be 
unnecessary, for the Duke must be aware that if the 
divorce was proceeded with there would be a civil war 
in England. 2 Chapuys was vain of his insight into 
things and characters. Like so many of his succes- 
sors, he mistook the opinion of a passionate clique of 
priests and priest-ridden malcontents for the general 
sentiment of the nation. They told him, as they told 
other Spanish ambassadors after him, that all the 
world thought as they did. Fanatics always think so ; 
and the belief that they were right proved in the end 
the ruin of the Spanish empire. In the present 
instance, however, Chapuys may be pardoned for his 
error. Norfolk imagined that Wolsey was scheming 
for a return to power on the old anti-Imperial lines. 
Wolsey was following a more dangerous line of his 
own. Impatient with the delay in his restoration, he 
imagined that by embroiling matters more fatally he 
could make his own help indispensable; and he was 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 20, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 436. 

2 Ibid. April 23, 1530, p. 511. 



138 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, 

drifting into what can only be called treachery — 
treachery specially dishonourable to him. Wolsey, 
the originator of the divorce and the French alliance, 
had now become the friend of Catherine and the secret 
adviser of Chapuys. He had welcomed, had perhaps 
advised, the issue of the prohibitory Papal brief. 
Copies of it were sent for from Flanders to be shown 
in England. "The Queen," wrote Chapuys on the 
iOth of May, 1 "is now firmer than ever, and believes 
the King will not dare make the other marriage ; if he 
does, which may God prevent, I suspect he will repent 
and be thankful to return to his first marriage, if by 
so doing he could be freed from his second. This is 
the opinion of Cardinal Wolsey and of many others. 
The Cardinal would have given his archbishopric that 
this had been done two years ago. He would have 
been better revenged on the intrigue which has ruined 
him." 

These words, taken by themselves, prove that Wol- 
sey was now in the confidence of Catherine's friends, 
but would not justify further inference. Another let- 
ter which follows leaves no room for doubt. 

On the 15th of June Chapuys writes again. 2 "I 
have a letter from the Cardinal's physician, in which 
he tells me that his master, not knowing exactly the 
state of the Queen's affairs, cannot give any special 
advice upon them; but with fuller information would 
counsel and direct as if he was to gain Paradise by it, 
as on her depended his happiness, honour, and peace 
of mind. As things stood he thought that the Pope 
should proceed to the weightier censures, and should 
call in the secular arm ; there was want of nerve in the 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 23, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 533. 

2 Ibid. p. 600. 



Treachery of Wolsey. 139 

way in which things were handled." 1 The calling in 
the secular arm meant invasion and open war. To 
advise it was treasonable in any English subject. 
There may be circumstances under which treason of 
such a kind might be morally defended. No defence, 
moral or political, can be made for Wolsey; and it 
was the more discreditable because at this time he 
was professing the utmost devotion to his King, and 
endeavouring to secure his confidence. Three differ- 
ent petitions Norfolk discovered him to have sent in, 
"desiring as much authority as ever he had." Nor- 
folk no doubt watched him, and may have learnt 
enough to suspect what he was doing. The whispers 
and the messages through the intriguing physician had 
not gone unobserved. The King persisted in his gen- 
erous confidence, and could not be persuaded that his 
old friend could be really treacherous, 2 but he con- 
sented to send him down to his diocese. Wolsey went, 
still affecting his old magnificence, with a train of six 
hundred knights and gentlemen ; but he never reached 
his cathedral city. Chapuys heard, to his alarm, that 
the physician was arrested and was in the Tower. He 
congratulated himself that, were all revealed which 
had passed between him and Wolsey, nothing could 
be discovered which would compromise his own safety. 
But it was true that Wolsey 's physician had betrayed 
his master, revealing secrets which he had bound him- 

1 " J'ay regeu lettres du medicin du Cardinal, par lesquelles il m'ad- 
vertit que son maystre pour non s^avoir en quelles tercnes sont les 
affaires de la Reyne, il ne scauroit particulierement quel conseil donner 
et que estant informe, il y vouldroit donner conseil et addresse comme 
ce estoit pour gagner paradis. Car de la depend son bien, honneur et 
repoz, et qu'il lui semble pour maintenant que 1'on debvroyt proceder 
a plus grandes censures et a la invocation du bras seculier. Car mainte- 
pant il n'y a nul nerf ." 

2 T. Arundel to Wolsey, Oct. 16, 1530. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. iv. p. 3013. 



140 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragori. 

self never to tell. He had confessed, so Chapuys 
learnt, that the Cardinal had advised the Pope to 
excommunicate the King, if he did not send away the 
"Lady" from the court, hoping thus "to raise the 
country and obtain the management." 1 Too evidently 
the Cardinal had been intriguing, and not honourably, 
merely for his own purposes. He might have per- 
suaded himself that the divorce would be injurious to 
the country ; but after the part which he had played it 
was not for him to advise the Pope to strike at his 
master, whom he had himself tempted to go so deep 
with it. The King was convinced at last. Orders 
were sent down to arrest him and bring him back to 
London. He knew that all was now over with him, 
and that he would not be again forgiven. He refused 
to take food, and died on his way at Leicester Abbey 
on St. Andrew's Day. He was buried, it was observed, 
in the same church where the body lay of Richard III. 
One report said that he had starved himself ; another 
that he had taken poison. Chapuys says "that he died 
like a good Christian, protesting that he had done 
nothing against the King." His designs had failed, 
whatever they might have been, and he ended his great 
career struggling ineffectually to conjure back into the 
vase the spirit which he had himself let loose. 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Nov. 27, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 3035. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Danger of challenging the Papal dispensing power — The Royal family 
of Spain — Address of the English Peers to the Pope — Compromise 
proposed by the Duke of Norfolk — The English Agents at Rome — 
Arrival of a new Nuncio in England — His interview with the King 

— Chapuys advises the King's excommunication — Position of the 
English clergy — Statute of Provisors — The clergy in a Praemunire 

— Remonstrances of the Nuncio — Despair of Catherine — Her let- 
ter to the Pope — Henry prepares for war — The introduction of 
briefs from Rome forbidden — Warnings given to the Spanish Am- 
bassador and the Nuncio. 

The question whether the Pope had power to license 
marriages within the forbidden degrees affected inter- 
ests immeasurably wider than the domestic difficulties 
of Henry VIII. Innumerable connections had been 
contracted, in reliance upon Papal dispensations, the 
issue of which would be illegitimate if the authority 
was declared to be insufficient. The Emperor himself 
was immediately and personally concerned. Emman- 
uel of Portugal had been three times married. His 
first wife was Isabel, daughter of Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, Catherine's sister and Charles's aunt. His sec- 
ond wife was her sister Maria; his third, Charles's 
sister Eleanor. Charles's own Empress was the child 
of the second of these marriages, and they had all been 
contracted under dispensations from Rome. A sudden 
change of the law or the recognition in a single instance 
that the Pope's authority in such matters might be 
challenged would create universal disturbance ; and it 
was not for Catherine's sake alone that the Emperor 



142 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

had so peremptorily resisted Henry's demand. The 
difficulty would have been evaded had Catherine agreed 
to take the vows ; and Henry himself, when Catherine 
refused, had been so far conscious of the objection 
that he had hitherto based his demand on the irregu- 
larity of the original Bull of Pope Julius. Clement 
had said often that a way could be found if Charles 
would consent; but Charles had not consented. In 
England, the marriage having been once challenged, 
a decision of some kind was necessary to avoid a dis- 
puted succession, and larger issues had now to be 
raised. The Emperor having dismissed the English 
Embassy at Bologna with scant courtesy, the Pope, as 
we have seen, had fallen back secretly on his old wish 
that Henry would take the matter into his own hands, 
disregard the inhibition, and marry as he pleased, with- 
out throwing the responsibility on himself. Henry, 
however, after the assurances which the Pope had 
given him, was determined that he should not escape 
in this way. He had gained or extorted a favourable 
opinion from his own learned corporations. Francis 
had assisted him to a similar opinion from the Univer- 
sity of Paris. Confident in these authorities, a great 
body of English peers, spiritual and temporal, now 
presented a formal demand to Clement that the King's 
petition should be conceded, and intimated that if it 
was again refused they must seek a remedy for them- 
selves. Wolsey himself signed, for the petition was 
drawn in the summer before his death. Archbishop 
Warhani signed, followed by bishops, abbots, dukes, 
earls, and barons. Some, doubtless, had to strain 
their consciences, but the act as a whole must be taken 
as their own. The King, unless he was supported by 
the people, had no means of forcing them or of punish- 
ing them if they refused. Norfolk still laboured des- 



The English Peers petition the Pojje. 143 

perately to work upon Chapuys. He told him, before 
the address was despatched, that, as there seemed no 
other way of bringing the business to an end, he would 
sacrifice the greater part of what he owned in the world 
if God would be pleased to take to himself the Queen 
and his niece also, 1 for the King would never enjoy 
peace of mind till he had made another marriage, for 
the relief of his conscience and the tranquillity of the 
realm, which could only be secured by male posterity 
to succeed to the crown. 

The King, Norfolk said, could not plead at Rome, 
which was garrisoned by a Spanish army, and the Pope 
would do the Emperor's bidding if it was to dance in 
the streets in a clown's coat; the Queen objected to a 
trial in England; but could not a neutral place be 
found with impartial judges ? Might not the Cardinal 
of Liege be trusted, and the Bishop of Tarbes ? 

The blunt and honest Norfolk was an indifferent 
successor to the dexterous Cardinal. To wish that 
Catherine and Anne Boleyn were both dead was a nat- 
ural, but not a valuable, aspiration. A neutral place 
of trial was, no doubt, desirable, and the Cardinal of 
Liege might be admissible, but de Tarbes would not 
do at all. "He had been one of the first," Chapuys 
remarked, "to put the fancy in the King's head." 2 

At Rome the diplomatic fencing continued, the Pope 
secretly longing to "commit some folly " and to come 
to terms with Henry, while the Imperial agents kept 
their claws fixed upon him. In October Mai reported 
that Henry's representatives were insisting that Clem- 
ent should dissolve the marriage without legal process, 
on the ground that the kingdom must have an heir, 

1 Anne Boleyn. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., July 11, 1530. - Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 030. 



144 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

and because the King protested that he was living in 
mortal sin. If this could not be done, the Pope should 
at least promise that if the King married he should 
not be proceeded against. The Pope seemed too much 
inclined to listen ; 1 but with Mai at his shoulder, he 
could not afford to be valiant. He was made to 
answer that he had done his best; but he could not 
reject the Queen's appeal; the King had not named a 
proctor to appear for him, and therefore delay had 
been unavoidable; the threat of the Peers in their 
address that unless the divorce was granted they would 
seek a remedy elsewhere, was unworthy of them, and 
could not have been sanctioned by the King; he had 
always wished to comply with the King's requests 
when it could be done with justice. 2 

True to his policy of doing nothing and trusting to 
time, Clement hoped to tire Henry out by smooth 
words and hopes indirectly conveyed; but he was 
slowly swept on by the tide, and, when forced to act 
at all, had to act at Mai's dictation. The Nuncio in 
England had been too openly on Henry's side. A 
change was necessary. John Casalis was recalled. 
The Baron de Burgo was sent to succeed him, who 
was expected to be of sterner material. Chapuys had 
ascertained from two legal friends in the House of 
Commons that, when the next session opened, the di- 
vorce would be brought before Parliament, and that 
Parliament would stand by the King; also that M. du 
Bellay had come from Paris with promises from 
Francis to settle matters with the Pope afterwards, if 
the King cut the knot and married. 3 Unless the Em- 

1 Mai to Charles V., Oct. 2 and Oct. 10, 1530. — Calendar, Foreign 
and Domestic, vol. iv. pp. 3002, 3009. 

2 Answer of the Pope, Sept. 27, 1530. — Ibid. p. 2201 . 

3 Chapuys to Charles V., Sept. 4, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 707. 



The King and the Nuncio. 145 

peror gave way, of which there was no hope, or unless 
the Pope dared the Emperor's displeasure, to which 
Clement was as disinclined as ever, a breach with the 
Papacy seemed now unavoidable. His Holiness still 
hoped, however, that there might be a third alternative. 
The new Nuncio reached England in the middle of 
September. He reported briefly that at his first in- 
terview the King told him that, unless the cause was 
committed to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 
English Bishops, he would act for himself, since he 
knew that the Pope had promised the Emperor to de- 
clare for the Queen. Chapuys supplied the Emperor 
with fuller particulars of the interview. The Nuncio 
had declared to the King that, in view of the injury 
likely to ensue to the authority of the Church, "his 
Holiness would rather die or resign the Papacy than 
that the cause should not be settled to the mutual sat- 
isfaction of those concerned in it." The King, instead 
of replying graciously, as the Nuncio expected, had 
broken into violent abuse of the Pope himself and the 
whole Roman Court. The Church, Henry had said, 
required a thorough reformation, and the Church 
should have it. The Pope alone was to blame for the 
difficulty in which he found himself. He had sent 
him a brief from Orvieto, admitting the divorce to be 
a necessity, and now he had promised the Emperor, 
as he knew from good authority, that judgment shoul 1 
be given for the Queen. He would not endure such 
treatment. He would never consent that the cause 
should be decided at Rome, or in any place where 
either Pope or Emperor had jurisdiction. It was an 
ancient privilege of England, "that no cause having 
its origin in that kingdom should be advoked to an- 
other." If the Pope would not do him justice, he 
would appeal to his Parliament, which was about to 



14b' 77/ c Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

assemble, and if the Emperor threatened him with 
war, he hoped to be able to defend himself. The 
Nuncio had deprecated precipitate action. If the King 
would only do nothing, the Pope, he said, would pause 
also, till an amicable settlement could he arrived at ; 
hut the King would promise nothing; "lie would act 
as seemed best to himself." 

Henry being thus peremptory, Chapuys and the 
Nuncio had to consider what was to be done. The 
Pope, before the Nuncio's despatch, had received pri- 
vate advices from Wolsey, of which the Baron de 
Burgo had been informed. The evil, Wolsey had 
admitted, was too far gone for gentle treatment: it 
needed cautery and incision ; but they must proceed 
cautiously. If the Pope used threats, the King would 
BO at once to Parliament : there would then be war, in 
which France would take a part. Might not a per- 
sonal interview be brought about between the King 
and the Emperor? The Nuncio eould not see his way, 
but was willing to be guided by Chapuys. Chapuys 
was for instant action on the Pope's part. Modera- 
tion, he said, was useless. He believed (of course 
Wolsey had told him so) that, if the Pope would 
deliver sentence at Rome immediately, the King 
would find no one in the realm, or out of it, to help 
him in a quarrel against the Church. The responsi- 
bility ought not to be thrown upon the Emperor. The 
Pope must speak, and all good Catholics would be at 
his side. 1 The Nuncio agreed. The clergy in Eng- 
land were irritated and alarmed, and the opportunity 
was favourable. The Nuncio and the Ambassadors 
decided between them that the Pope was to be advised 
to end the cause at once, threaten the King with 

1 Chapuys to Charles, Sept. '-'0, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 7'_'(). 



The Statute of Provisors. 147 

excommunication, and let a copy of the brief be in 
England before Parliament opened. 

Chapuys, well as he thought that he understood 
England, had something to learn about it which was 
to be a disagreeable surprise. He had imagined that 
the Pope's authority, when boldly asserted there, had 
never been successfully resisted. Tradition remem- 
bered Anselm and Becket. It had forgotten the 
legislation of the Edwards and of Richard II. Ac- 
cording to Chapuys, the Pope was to issue a brief 
forbidding Parliament to meddle in the divorce case. 
There were laws on the statute book which forbade the 
interference of the Pope under any circumstances in 
the internal affairs of the English realm. Should the 
Pope, by bull or brief, by presentation to offices of the 
Church or by delegation of his authority, attempt to 
exercise direct jurisdiction in England to the prejudice 
of the rights of the Crown, all persons who introduced 
such bulls or briefs, who recognized the Pope's pre- 
tensions or acted on his orders, fell under Praemunire 

— a vague but terrible consequence, almost as fatal 
as a proved charge of treason. The statutes had been 
long obsolete. The sword was in its scabbard. Wol- 
sey had forgotten their existence when he sought and 
accepted the position of Legate of the Holy See. 
Henry had forgotten them when he applied for a 
Legatine commission to try his cause in London. The 
clergy who had claimed to be independent of the 
State, to be an imperium in imperio with the Pope at 
their head, the officials who had made the name of a 
Church court execrated in every county in England 

— all had forgotten them. But the Acts themselves 
were unrepealed, and survived as a monument of the 
spirit of a past generation. Doubtless it was known 
that the Pope was being urged to violence. Doubtless 



148 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

it was known that large numbers of the clergy were 
prepared to stand by him, in terror at the threatened 
Reformation. The blow was to be parried by an ap- 
peal to the historical precedents of the realm. These 
impatient persons were to learn that, instead of join- 
ing in attack upon the King, they would have enough 
to do to purchase their pardons for their own offences. 
The well-tempered steel sprang to light again bright 
as ever, and while the Nuncio was dreaming of ex- 
communication and interdict, he learnt to his aston- 
ishment that the subject coming before Parliament 
was not the divorce of the Queen, but the position of 
the whole spiritualty of the realm. 

By recognising Wolsey as Legate from the Holy 
See the entire clergy were found to be under Prae- 
munire. On the divorce, perhaps, or on excommuni- 
cation arising out of it, there might still have been 
a difference of opinion in Parliament; but the Papal 
authority was now to be argued there on the lines of 
the past development of English liberty. Notice of 
what was coming was given at the beginning of Octo- 
ber by a proclamation warning all persons of the ille- 
gality of introducing briefs from Rome. The Nuncio 
rushed to the council chamber ; he saw the Dukes of 
Norfolk and Suffolk ; he asked passionately what was 
meant? what was the Pope accused of? what Eng- 
lish privileges had he violated? why had he not been 
warned beforehand? The two Dukes answered "that 
they cared nothing for Pope or Popes in England — 
not even if St. Peter himself came to life again. The 
King was Emperor and Pope in his own dominions. 
The Pope was alienating the English people, and, if 
he wished to recover their affection, he must deserve 
it by attending to their petitions." 1 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Oct. 1, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 734. 



The Clergy in a Praemunire. 149 

The Nuncio assumed a bold face and told them they 
would find themselves mistaken if they thought they 
could intimidate the Holy See. He applied to the 
King. Henry told him that nothing had been pub- 
lished to the Pope's injury. He was merely using his 
prerogative to guard against opposition to the ordi- 
nances which he had made, or was about to make, for 
the reformation of the clergy. He had gone promptly 
to work, lest the Pope should issue an inhibition. 
The Nimcio knew not what to make of it. Queen 
Catherine was greatly disturbed; she feared the edict 
was a proof that the King was not afraid of the Pope 
after all. On the whole, the Nuncio considered that 
an attempt was being made to frighten him, and he 
sent off fresh letters advising the Pope to proceed at 
once to pass sentence. 1 

Henry was, in fact, checkmating them all. With 
the help of the revived Statute of Provisors he was 
able to raise the whole question of the Pope's author- 
ity in England without fresh legislation on present 
points of difference. Parliament, which was to have 
met in October, was prorogued till January, to mature 
the intended measures. The King went to Hampton 
Court. He sent for the Nuncio to come to him. He 
told him that by the citation to Rome the Pope had 
violated the privileges of sovereign princes, and had 
broken the promise which he had given him in writ- 
ing at Orvieto. If the Pope showed no more con- 
sideration for him, he would have to show that the 
Pope's pretension to authority was a usurpation, and 
very serious consequences would then follow. 

The King, the Nuncio said, spoke with much show 
of regret and with tears in his eyes. He added that 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Oct. 1, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 734. 



150 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

the present Parliament had been called at the request 
of the nation for the restraint of the clergy. They 
were so hated throughout the realm, both by nobles 
and people, that, but for his protection, they would 
be utterly destroyed. He should wait to take action 
till February, to see whether the Pope would mean- 
while change his conduct towards him. 1 

Norfolk, to whom the Nuncio went next, gave him 
no comfort; he said that, "though Queen Catherine 
was a good woman, her coming to England had been 
the curse of the country;" God had shown his dis- 
pleasure at the marriage by denying the King a male 
heir; if the King should die without a son, old feuds 
would be reopened and the realm would be plunged 
into misery. It was not tolerable that the vital in- 
terests of England should be sacrificed to the Em- 
peror. He advised the Nuncio to use his influence 
with the Pope. "The King's severity might then 
perhaps be modified." 

One more direct appeal was made by Henry himself 
to Clement. "Finding his just demands neglected, 
the requests of the King of France unattended to, and 
the address of his nobles despised and derided," he 
perceived, he said, that the Pope was wholly devoted 
to the Emperor's will, and ordained, prorogued and 
altered to serve the times. He required the Pope, 
therefore, to set down in writing his grounds for re- 
jecting his suit. He demanded once more that the 
cause should be heard in England before indifferent 
judges. "The laws of the realm would not suffer 
the contrary; he abhorred contention, but would not 
brook denial." 2 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Oct. 15, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 759. 

2 Henry VIII. to Clement VII., Dec. 6, 1530. — Calendar, Foreign 
and Domestic, vol. iv. p. 3055. 



Ajjpeals to the Pope. 151 

Queen Catherine was in despair. The hearing of 
the cause had again been postponed at Rome. A 
party in her favour had been formed in the House of 
Commons, but were at a loss what course to follow. 
If the Pope would give a decision they would know 
what to do, but the delay of sentence seemed to imply 
that he was himself uncertain where the right really 
lay. They questioned Chapuys whether any direc- 
tions had arrived from Rome on which to rest their 
opposition, hoping perhaps that an inhibitory brief 
had been issued. Opposition, they feared, would be 
useless without further action at the Papal Court. 

"The Pope," Chapuys said, "had been so dilatory 
and so dissembling that he was not in favour with 
either side." l A change was passing over public feel- 
ing. Every day gave strength to the King's cause. 
Archbishop Warham, who had been hitherto for the 
Queen, was beginning to waver, and even to think 
that he might try the suit in his own court. 2 The 
Queen, the Nuncio, the Bishop of Rochester, and the 
friends who remained staunch to her agreed unani- 
mously that the boldest course would be the wisest. 
Immediate sentence at Rome in the Queen's favour 
was the only remedy. Gentleness was thrown away. 
Let the King see that the Pope was really in earnest, 
and he would not venture to go further. Catherine 
herself wrote to Clement with the passion of a suffer- 
ing woman. "Delay," she said, "would be the cause 
of a new hell upon earth, the remedy for which would 
be worse than the worst that had ever yet been 
tried." 3 She did not blame the King. The fault was 
with the wicked counsellors who misled him. Once 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 21, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 853. 

2 Ibid. 

3 Catherine to the Pope, Dec. 17, 1530. — Ibid. p. 855. 



152 I7ie Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

delivered out of their hands, he would be as dutiful 
a son of the Church as he had ever been. 1 

It is noticeable throughout that each of the two 
parties assumed that the Pope's judgment when he 
gave it must be on its own side. The King de- 
manded a sentence in favour of the divorce; the 
Queen and the Emperor a sentence that the marriage 
was good. The Pope was to try the cause; but 
neither admitted that the right or the wrong was 
doubtful, or that the Pope must hear the arguments 
before he could decide. Doubtless they were justified 
in so regarding the Pope's tribunal. The trial would 
be undertaken, if a trial there was to be, with a fore- 
gone conclusion; but what kind of a court of justice 
could the Rota be if it could be so spoken of, and its 
master so be addressed? 

Most idolatries pass through the same stage. The 
idol is whipped before he is finally discarded. The 
Holy Ghost is still invited to assist the Cathedral 
Chapters in the choice of a Bishop, but must choose 
the person already named by the Prime Minister 
under pain of Pra?munire. Men should choose their 
idols better. Reasonable beings are not fit objects 
of such treatment. Much is to be said in favour of 
stuffed straw or the graven image, which the scourge 
itself cannot force to speak. Anne Boleyn was jubi- 
lant. "She is braver than a lion," wrote Chapuys. 
She said to one of the Queen's ladies that she wished 
all the Spaniards in the world were in the sea. The 
lady told her such language was disrespectful to her 
mistress. She said she cared nothing for the Queen, 
and would rather see her hanged than acknowledge 
her as her mistress. 2 Clement, goaded by Micer 

1 Catherine to the Pope, December 17, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, 
vol. iv. part 1, p. 855. 

- Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 1, 1531, — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. v. p. 10. 



Ghapuys advises War. 153 

Mai, issued at last a second brief, repeating the terms 
of the first, again forbidding the second marriage, and 
threatening Parliaments, Bishops, and Divines in 
England if they dared to interfere. But between a 
brief and the execution of it was a long interval. 
Sentence on the original cause he would not pass; 
and in leaving his final decision doubtful he left opin- 
ion free to the rest of the world. The brief was to 
be presented by the Nuncio. The Pope accompanied 
it with a deprecatory, and not undignified, letter to 
Henry from himself. 1 Chapuys feared that "by his 
loose talk " Clement was secretly encouraging the 
King. The brief might bring on a crisis. He did 
not relish the prospect of remaining in England "in 
the boiling vortex likely to be opened." But as the 
Queen insisted that he should stay, he pressed unceas- 
ingly for "excommunication and interdict." "The 
Emperor might then make effectual war with the 
English. They would lose their trade with Spain 
and Flanders, and the disaffection to the King and 
Council would be greatly increased." 2 

On the spot and surrounded by an atmosphere of 
passion, Chapuys was in favour of war. The Em- 
peror, still unwilling to part with the hereditary 
friendship of England, was almost as reluctant as 
Clement. He had supposed that Henry was influ- 
enced by a passing infatuation, that by supporting 
Catherine he would please the greater part of the na- 
tion, and ultimately, perhaps, secure the gratitude of 
Henry himself. He had not allowed for the changes 
which were passing over the mind of the English peo- 
ple. He had not foreseen the gathering indignation 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. v. p. 12. 

2 Chapuys to Charles, Dec. 21, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 854. 



154 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

of a proud race jealous of their liberties when they 
saw him dictating to the Spiritual Judge of Europe 
on a question which touched their own security. But 
he had gone too far to draw back. He found himself 
sustained, not only by Spanish opinion, but by the 
part of his subjects about whom he had felt most un- 
easy. The Italian universities had for the most part 
gone with Paris and declared against the dispensing 
power. In Germany Henry had been disappointed. 
The King of England had been an old antagonist of 
Luther. Sir Thomas More, as Chancellor, had been 
enforcing the heresy laws against Luther's English 
proselytes with increased severity. The Lutherans 
in turn declared decidedly against Henry's divorce. 
The Emperor was their feudal sovereign. They saw 
no reason for entering into a new quarrel with him on 
a cause which, so far as they understood, was none of 
their own. Henry was evidently alarmed. Chapuys 
reported that he was busy building ships, casting can- 
non, repairing fortresses, and replenishing the Tower 
arsenal, as if conscious that he might have serious 
work before him. The Emperor still clung to the be- 
lief that he would be afraid to persevere, and Chapuys 
himself began to think that the Emperor might be 
more right than himself, and that the storm might 
pass off. No sign, however, appeared of yielding. 
The new brief was known to have been issued, and to 
have been forwarded to the Nuncio. Not contented 
with the warning already given by proclamation, Nor- 
folk on the 13th of January sent for Chapuys to draw 
his attention once more to the law. The introduction 
of briefs from Rome touching the honour and author- 
ity of the Crown was forbidden by Act of Parliament. 
It was understood that "certain decretals" had been 
procured by the Queen's friends, and were about to 



Thrust and Counter- Thrust. 155 

be published. The Duke desired the Ambassador to 
know that if the Pope came in person to present such 
briefs he would be torn in pieces by the people. It 
was not a new question. Popes had tried in past 
times to usurp authority in England. The King's 
predecessors had always resisted, and the present 
King would resist also. Kings were before Popes. 
The King was master in his own dominions. If any 
such decretal came into the Ambassador's hands, the 
Duke warned him not to issue it. 1 

Imperialist officials were more accustomed to dictate 
to others than to submit to commands. Chapuys was 
brave, and, when occasion required, could be haughty 
to insolence. He thanked the Duke for giving him 
the notice. "He would not argue," he said, "on the 
authority possessed by Popes over disobedient kings 
and kingdoms. It was a notorious fact in full practice 
at that very time. His curiosity had not extended so 
far as the study of the English statute book, and on 
such points he must refer the Council to the Nuncio. 
For himself he could only say he thought they would 
have done better if they had not given occasion for such 
'briefs' from the Pope. The Emperor would not con- 
sent to an unreasonable sentence against the King, for 
he regarded him as his ally and friend, but he could 
assure the Duke that if his master was to direct him 
to assist the publication of any Papal brief in Eng- 
land he would unquestionably execute his Majesty's 
commands. As to the nation at large, he did not 
think they would resist the Pope's decretals. He 
thought, on the contrary, they would help their execu- 
tion with all their power. Truth and justice must 
reign everywhere, even among thieves and in hell. 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., January 13, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iv. part 2, p. 22. 



156 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

The Church of Christ was never so unprovided with 
defenders as to be unable to carry the world with her, 
and the English would have no right to complain if 
the Emperor, having exhausted all means of concilia- 
tion, caused justice to take her course." l 

Such language could bear but one meaning. Cha- 
puys perhaps intended to frighten Norfolk. The 
Duke was suspected to be less staunch in support of 
the King than he professed to be in Council. The 
Duchess was a fiery partisan of Catherine, and a close 
intimate of the Ambassador himself. He thought 
that he had produced an impression ; but Norfolk an- 
swered at last that, " if the King could take another 
wife he certainly would; " the Pope had no business to 
interfere, except in cases of heresy. 2 To the Nuncio 
the Duke gave the same warning which he had given 
to the Ambassador, drawing special attention to the 
pains and penalties to which disobedience would make 
him liable. The Nuncio answered, like Chapuys, that 
at whatever cost he would obey the Pope's orders, and 
"would die if necessary for his lord and master." 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., January 13, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iv. part 2, p. 23. 

2 Ibid. p. 26. 



CHAPTER X. 

State of feeling in England — Clergy and laity — The Clergy in a Pra3- 
mnnire — The Royal Supremacy — Hesitation at Rome — Submis- 
sion of the Clergy — The meaning of the new title — More and Fisher 
— Alarm of the Emperor — Appeal of Catherine to him — Unpopu- 
larity of Anne Boleyn — Threats of excommunication — Determina- 
tion of Henry — Deputation of Peers to Catherine — Catherine's 
reply — Intolerable pretensions of the Emperor — Removal of Cath- 
erine from the Court. 

A struggle was now inevitable between the Kins: 
and the Pope, and the result of it would depend on the 
sentiments of the English nation. Chapuys and the 
Nuncio believed the majority of the people to be loy- 
ally attached to the see of Rome. To the Pope as 
pope the King and Council were willing to submit ; 
but a pope who was the vassal and mouthpiece of an- 
other secular sovereign, they believed the country 
would support them in refusing to acknowledge. Was 
Chapuys right or was the King? The Parliament 
about to open would decide. In the clergy of Eng- 
land the Pope had a ready-made army completely at 
his devotion. In asserting their independence of civil 
control the clerical order had been conscious that they 
could not stand alone, and had attached themselves 
with special devotion to their Spiritual Sovereign at 
Rome. They might complain of annates and first- 
fruits and other tributes which they were made to 
pay; but the Pope's support they knew to be essential 
to the maintenance of their professional privileges; 



158 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

and in any contest which might arise they were cer- 
tain to be found on the side of the Holy See. The 
hero of the imagination of every English priest was 
Becket of Canterbury. In theory he regarded the 
secular prince as ruling only by delegation from the 
Supreme Pontiff, and as liable in case of contumacy 
to be deposed. In case of quarrel between the clergy 
and the State the enormous influence of the Church 
was pledged to the order and to its chief at Rome. 

The spiritualty were already exasperated by the clip- 
ping of their claws in the last session. From the 
Bishop of Rochester, who represented clerical opinion 
in its most accentuated form, from great ladies, and 
from a party of the nobles with whom, as Catherine's 
friends, he mainly associated, Chapuys had heard 
unanimous censures of the King's conduct. These 
persons told him that the whole nation agreed with 
them, and certainly the opposition of a body so power- 
ful as the clergy was by itself formidable. Before it 
came to war, therefore, with the Pontiff, the King 
had prepared his measures to disarm the Pontiff's 
legionaries. To clip their claws was not enough. 
Their mouths had to be held with bit and bridle. 
Parliament, after repeated prorogations, was opened 
at last in January. Convocation, which was called 
simultaneously, was put formally in possession of a 
fact which had appeared on the first rumour of it in- 
credible — that the whole body of the clergy lay under 
Praemunire for having recognised Cardinal Wolsey's 
legation and the Papal Bull by which it was instituted. 
It was an intimation that the old English laws were 
awake again. The clergy were subjects of the Crown, 
not of the Pope, and to impress the fact upon their 
minds they learnt that legally their property was for- 
feited, that they would obtain their pardon only on 



Meaning of the Royal Supremacy. 159 

paying a fine of a hundred thousand pounds, and on 
distinctly acknowledging the King as the Supreme 
Head of the Church of England. Chapuys's corre- 
spondence explained the motives of the Government 
in extorting the confession ; and justified the arbitrary 
use which was made of the Praemunire. The Pope 
was being urged to excommunicate the King and de- 
clare him deposed. The clergy, through whom the 
Pope would act, were to be forced to admit that they 
were subjects of the Crown and were bound to obey 
the laws of their country. It was in no idle vanity, 
no ambitious caprice that Henry VIII. demanded the 
title which has been so much debated. It was as a 
practical assertion of the unity and independence of 
the realm. England was to have but one sovereign 
supreme within her own limits, with whom no foreign 
prince, secular or spiritual, had a right to interfere; 
and an acknowledgement of their obligation was de- 
manded in ample form from the order which looked 
elsewhere for its superior. The black regiments were 
to be compelled to swear allegiance to the proper sov- 
ereign. 

Clement's mind had always misgiven him that, if 
he pushed Henry too far, mischief would befall him. 
He had refused the last brief till it was extorted from 
him. 1 As if Mai had not been pressing and vehement 
enough, Catherine had now at Rome a special repre- 
sentative of her own, Dr. Ortiz, a bitter Catholic the- 
ologian with the qualities which belong to that profes- 
sion. Mai and Ortiz together, listening to no excuse, 
drove the Pope on from day to day, demanding sen- 
tence with its inevitable consequence. The Cardinals 
were alarmed. One of them told Mai that, in his 

1 Muxetula to Charles V., Jan. 12, 1531. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. v. p. 18. 



160 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

opinion, the original dispensation really was void, that 
Julius had no faculty to dispense in such a case. 
The Pope suggested that the affair might be sus- 
pended for two years. It might then, perhaps, drop 
and be forgotten. He enquired whether, if the King 
consented to plead by proxy before him, the Emperor 
would agree to any accommodation. Should the case 
go on, it might last fifteen or twenty years. All the 
Cardinals, said Mai, nay, the Pope himself, would 
like to put off the affair entirely, to avoid trouble. 1 
The Court of Rome had, in fact, discovered at last 
that matters were really serious, that Henry would not 
be played with, and that the quarrel must be peace- 
ably settled. Mai and Ortiz were furious. They in- 
sisted on immediate action. Delay, they said, would 
be injurious to the Queen. Their orders were to 
urge the Pope to proceed and pass sentence, whether 
the parties appeared or not. They hinted that very 
soon there would be no more trouble from England ; 
they had been told, and they believed, that, with the 
clergy on Catherine's side, a Papal decree would end 
the whole business. 

Their confidence was shaken and their activity 
rudely arrested by the news of the Praemunire and 
the demand for the submission of the English clergy. 
Too well the meaning of it was understood. On 
Chapuys and the Nuncio it fell like a thunderbolt. 
They held an anxious consultation, and they agreed 
on the least wise measure which they could possibly 
have adopted. The Nuncio, as representing the maj- 
esty of the Holy See, determined to go himself to 
Convocation, and exhort the Bishops to uphold the 
Church and resist the King and the House of Com- 

1 Mai to Covos, Feb. 13, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, 
p. 59. 



Submixsio?i of the Clergy. 161 

mons. He actually went, and was much astonished 
at the reception which he met with. The right rev- 
erend body was so "scandalised" at his intrusion that 
they entreated him to withdraw, without giving him 
time to declare his errand. They told him that, if 
he had anything to say, "he must address himself to 
the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was not then 
present." The Nuncio had to withdraw precipitately. 
In his vexation he had not even the prudence to de- 
part quietly, but insisted on thrusting on the Bishop 
of London the words which he had meant to speak. 1 

The Bishops and clergy themselves were compelled 
to submit to the inevitable. The law under which 
they suffered had marked an epoch of successful resis- 
tance to Papal usurpation. The revival of it was to 
mark another and a greater. They struggled long 
enough and violently enough to deprive their resis- 
tance of dignity, and then, "swearing they would 
never consent," consented. They agreed to pay the 
hundred thousand pounds as the price of their pardon. 
They agreed, in accepting it, to acknowledge the 
King as Supreme Head of the English Church, and, 
to ease their conscience, they were allowed to intro- 
duce as a qualifying phrase, quantum per legem 
Christi licet. But the law of Christ would avail them 
little for their special privileges. It would have to 
be interpreted by the rejection of another form which 
they had desired to substitute and were not allowed. 
For "legem Christi''' they had desired to read "legem 
Ecclesim.'''' The supposed claims of the Church were 
precisely what they were to be compelled to disavow. 

It was done. The enchantment was gone from 
them. They had become as other men, shorn Sam- 

1 Chapuys to the Emperor, Jan. 23, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iy. part 2, p. 39, / 



162 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

sons and no longer dangerous. The Pope might say 
what he pleased. The clergy were now the King's 
servants, and not the Pope's, and must either support 
the Crown or become confessed traitors. Thus when 
the Brief arrived, the Nuncio was allowed to present 
it. The King took it with a smile and passed it on to 
the Privy Council, talked to him good-humouredly of 
indifferent matters, and had never been more polite. 
In a light way he told the Nuncio that he knew of his 
attempt to persuade the Bishops to agree to nothing to 
the Pope's prejudice; but his anxiety was unneces- 
sary; no injury would be done to the Pope, unless the 
Pope brought it upon himself. The King's gracious- 
ness was but too intelligible. To Catherine and Cha- 
puys and all their friends the meaning of it was that 
Henry had made himself " Pope " in England. The 
Queen foresaw her own fate as too sure to follow. 
She feared "that, since the King was not ashamed of 
doing such monstrous things, and there being no one 
who could or dared contradict him, he might, one of 
these days, undertake some further outrage against 
her own person." 1 

The blame of the defeat was thrown on the unfor- 
tunate Clement. The Pope's timidity and dissimula- 
tion, wrote Chapuys, had produced the effect which 
he had all along foretold. It had prejudiced the 
Queen's interests and his own authority. Her cause 
was making no progress. The Pope had promised 
Mai that if the King disobeyed his first brief and 
allowed Anne Boleyn to remain at court he would 
excommunicate him, and now all that he had done 
had been to issue another conditional brief less strong 
than the first, and the Lady was left defiant and with 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 14, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. G3. 



Indulgence to the Lutherans. 163 

as much authority as ever. The Queen had begun to 
think that the Pope had no desire to settle the matter, 
and, as Norfolk observed to Chapuys, was glad that 
the Princes should be at discord, for fear they might 
combine to reform the clergy. If the Pope had di- 
rectly ordered the King to separate from the Lady 
Anne, the King would never have claimed the supre- 
macy 1 which had caused such universal consternation. 
The Chancellor [Sir Thomas More] was so horrified 
at it, Chapuys said, that he would quit office as soon 
as possible. The Bishop of Rochester was sick with 
grief. He opposed as much as he could; but they 
threatened to fling him and his friends into the river, 
so he had to yield at last, and had taken to his bed in 
despair. The Bishops, it was thought, would now do 
anything against the Queen which they were ordered, 
especially seeing how cold and indifferent the Pope 
seemed about her fate. The Nuncio had questioned 
the King about the nature of his new Papacy. The 
King told him that if the Pope showed him proper 
respect he might retain his lawful authority, "other- 
wise he knew what he would himself do." 2 

The last words were explained in another letter in 
which Chapuys said that the Lady Anne was support- 
ing the Lutherans. They had been treated to prison 
and stake while More had held the seals. On More's 
retirement they were now to have an easier time of it. 
Between them and the King there was the link of a 
common enemy in the Pope, and the King was show- 
ing a disposition to protect them. The revival of the 
Praemunire created embarrassments of many kinds. 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 21, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. 69 ; and Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. v. p. 49. There 
are a few verbal differences between the two versions. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 21, 1530. - Ibid. 



164 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragoti. 

The Pope had officials of his own in England and Ire- 
land, whom he appointed himself, and could not real- 
ise the extent of the change which he had brought on. 
It is amusing to find him in the midst of the storm 
peacefully soliciting Henry for help against the Turks, 
and the Nuncio paying friendly visits to the palace. 
Henry told him that he had made a final appeal to 
Rome and was waiting to see the result. The Pope 
might excommunicate him if he pleased; he cared 
nothing for his excommunication ; the Emperor might, 
no doubt, hurt him; but he was not sure that the 
Emperor desired to hurt him, or, if it came to that, 
he could defend himself and the realm. Norfolk was 
equally decided. They knew, he said, that the Queen 
and the Emperor were pressing the Pope for sentence, 
but it was time lost. If the Pope issued ten thousand 
excommunications, no notice would be taken of them. 
The Archbishop and not the Pope was the lawful 
judge in English causes. Chapuys expressed a hope 
that a day would come when the King would listen to 
his true friends again, etc. "You will see before 
long," replied the Duke, "that the Emperor will re- 
pent of not having consented to the divorce." * 

In fact, the Emperor had begun to repent already, 
or, if not to repent, yet to be perplexed with the ad- 
dition which his action had brought upon him to his 
many burdens. The Praemunire and the successful 
establishment of the authority of the Crown over the 
clergy had startled all Europe. The King and Par- 
liament, it had been universally supposed, would yield 
before a threat of excommunication. When it ap- 
peared that they were as careless of the Pope's curses 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., March 22, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iv. part 1, p. 94. Ibid. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. v. p. 
68. 



Hesitation at Rome. 165 

as Luther and the Elector of Saxony, the affair wore 
another aspect. Even the Imperialist Cardinals in 
the Consistory came round to the Pope's own view 
and wished to let the cause rest for two or three years. 
Mai feared that such a course might lead to Nbve- 
dades or revolution, but admitted that much might be 
said for it, especially considering the difficulties in 
Germany. He ceased to press the Pope for immediate 
sentence, and Dr. Ortiz, Catherine's passionate agent, 
complained that he found the Emperor's Ambassador 
growing cold and less eager to support his own argu- 
ments. 1 Catherine, seeing her clerical friends pros- 
trated, could but renew her entreaties to her own rela- 
tions. Her position was growing daily weaker. The 
nation, seeing the Pope confining himself to weak 
threats and unable or unwilling to declare her marriage 
valid, was rapidly concluding that on the main question 
the King was right, and that to throw the realm into 
a convulsion for an uncertainty was not tolerable. 
No appeal had as yet been made to Parliament, but 
"the King of France," Catherine wrote to Charles, 
"has asked the Pope to delay sentence. If this be 
allowed, the means now employed by these people to 
gain the consent of the nation to his second marriage 
are such that they will obtain what they desire and 
accomplish my ruin at the next session. If the delay 
be not already granted, I entreat your Highness not 
to consent to it. Insist that the Pope shall give judg- 
ment before next October, when Parliament will meet 
again. Forgive my importunity. I cannot rest till 
justice is done to me. For the love of Heaven let it 
be done before the time I name. I myself, if it must 

1 Micer Mai to Covos, March 28, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 105. Ortiz to the Archbishop of Santiago. April 11, 1531. — 
Ibid. p. 116. 



166 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

be so, shall go to Parliament and declare before its 
members the justice of my case." 1 

The harassed Pope was obstinately cautious, and 
occasionally even turned upon his persecutors. Mai 
now urged him to call a General Council and settle all 
questions. The word "council" rang painfully in 
Papal ears. Why did not the Emperor make war 
upon the Lutherans? he pettishly asked. Mai told 
him the Lutherans were rich and stubborn and strong, 
and it would be an endless work. Why not then, 
said Clement, begin with the Swiss, who were not so 
strong? Mai answered that it could not be. The 
heretics everywhere made common cause, and the Em- 
peror could not fight them all single-handed. The 
Pope sighed, and said he feared there would be little 
help from France and England. 2 

In England events moved steadily on, without hes- 
itation, yet without precipitation. The Bishops were 
not yet agreed on the divorce. At the close of the 
session (March, 1531) Sir Thomas More read in the 
Upper House the opinions which had been collected 
from the Universities at home and abroad, and a de- 
bate ensued upon them. . . . London and Lincoln 
were on the King's side. St. Asaph and Bath were 
of opinion that Parliament had no right to interfere. 
Norfolk cut the argument short by saying that the 
documents had been introduced merely to be read. 
There was no proposal before the House. More said 
briefly that the King knew what his opinion was, 
and that he need not repeat it. The judgments were 
sent down to the House of Commons, where Chapuys 
persuaded himself that they were heard with more 

1 Queen Catherine to the Emperor, April 5, 1531. — Spanish Calen- 
dar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 112. 
a Micer Mai to Charles V., April 21, 1531. — Ibid. p. 130. 



English Sentiment. 167 

displeasure than approval. The session ended, and 
Parliament was prorogued till the following autumn. 
The Emperor himself wrote to More. The letter was 
forwarded through Chapuys, who wished to deliver it 
in person. More declined his visit and declined the 
letter. If it was placed in his hand, he said, he must 
communicate it to the King. Parliament having 
risen, there was again a breathing time. 1 

So far as the persons of the two ladies were con- 
cerned who were the central figures in the quarrel, 
there was little difference of opinion in England. 
The Duke of Norfolk, who represented the feelings of 
the great body of the nation, thought that the inter- 
ests of the succession made the divorce a necessity. 
The realm could not be left exposed to the risk of 
another civil war. He was jealous of the honour and 
liberties of the country, and ill liked to see a ques- 
tion which touched them so nearly left to the pleasure 
of the Emperor. But Norfolk as much admired Cath- 
erine as he disliked his niece, and there were probably 
few English statesmen who did not regret that a pub- 
lic cause should have been tainted by a love-affair. 
All the leading men regretted that the King had 
fastened his choice upon a person neither liked nor 
respected. Anne's antecedents were unfavourable. 
Her elevation had turned her brain; she had made 
herself detested for her insolence and dreaded for her 
intrigues. Catherine, on the other hand, was a prin- 
cess of royal birth and stainless honour. The Duke 
observed to the Marquis of Exeter that it was a won- 
der to see her courage — nothing seemed to frighten 
her; "the Devil and no other," he said, "must have 
originated so wretched a business." The same view 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 2, 1531. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. v. p. 83. 



168 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

of the matter was growing at Rome in the Pope and 
among the Cardinals. The Bishop of Tarbes, who 
represented Francis at the Papal Court, warned Clem- 
ent that the loss of England might be the loss of 
France also. If the King of England, he said, was 
driven to desperation, the miserable divorce suit would 
be the ruin of the world; Francis would and must 
stand by him if the Pope proceeded to excommuni- 
cation. His impatience with his marriage might be 
unreasonable, but was no adequate ground for the 
convulsion of Catholic Christendom. Clement was 
at heart of the same opinion. The course which he 
wished to follow was to delay indefinitely. A formal 
suspension would not be needed. They had only to 
go on slowly. The King would then most likely 
marry, and the cause would drop. Andrea de Burgo, 
Ferdinand's ambassador, said that the Emperor was 
strong enough to settle the matter by himself. "Not 
so strong as you think," Clement observed. "Be- 
tween the Turks and the Lutherans the Emperor may 
have trouble enough of his own." 1 

The Pope's unwillingness was well understood in 
England. He made another faint effort to save Cath- 
erine ; he ordered the Nuncio to announce to Henry 
that the brief must be obeyed, or "justice would have 
its course." Believing that the message would be 
resented, the Nuncio hesitated to deliver it, but, en- 
couraged by Chapuys, at last demanded audience and 
informed Henry in the Pope's name what he was to 
expect if he persisted. Henry shortly answered that 
the Pope was losing his time. He already knew what 
the Nuncio had come to tell him, but, once for all, he 
would never accept the Pope as his judge in an affair 

1 Micer Mai to Charles V., May 25, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iv. part 2, p. 165. 



Deputation sent to the Queen. 169 

concerning himself and the English nation. "The 
Pope may excommunicate me," he said. "I care not 
a fie: for his excommunication. Let him do as he 
wills at Rome. I will do here as I will. ... I take 
the Pope to be a worthy man on the whole, but ever 
since the last war he has been so afraid of the Empe- 
ror that he dares not act against his wishes." l 

The most obvious resource was to adopt the sugges- 
tion already made that the case should be transferred 
to Cambray, or to some other spot not open to objec- 
tion, where it could be heard with impartiality. Clem- 
ent himself was weary of the struggle, and eager to 
escape from it by any reasonable means. If Cather- 
ine would agree, Charles was unlikely to hesitate; 
but, though weary and worn out with disappoint- 
ments, she was a resolute woman, and as long as she 
persisted the Emperor was determined not to desert 
her. With small hope of success, but as an experi- 
ment which it was thought desirable to try, a deputa- 
tion of Peers and Bishops were commissioned to see 
Catherine, to ask her to withdraw her demand for an 
immediate sentence, and consent that the cause should 
be tried in a neutral place ; while the Pope, through 
his Legate in Spain, made a similar proposition to 
Charles. The Queen heard that they were coming, 
and prepared for them by causing several "masses of 
the Holy Ghost" to be said, that she might be enlight- 
ened how to answer. The delegates arrived shortly 
after the masses were completed, the two Dukes, Lord 
Exeter, Earls, Barons, Bishops, and canon lawyers, 
thirty of them in all. Norfolk spoke for the rest. 
He said that the King had been treated with contempt 
and vituperation by the Pope on her account; he had 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., June (3, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. 170. 



170 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

been cited to appear personally at Rome — a measure 
never before enforced by any pope against an English 
king. He could not go ; he could not leave his king- 
dom — nor could the dispute be settled by the Pope's 
insistence on it. A fitter place and fitter judges must 
be chosen by the mutual consent of the parties, or she 
would be the cause of trouble and scandal to them and 
their posterity. The Duke entreated her to consider 
the consequences of refusal — to remember the many 
good services which the King had rendered to her 
father and to the Emperor, and to allow the constitu- 
tion of some other court before which the King could 
plead. 

In itself the demand was reasonable. It was im- 
possible for a king of England to plead before the 
Pope, in the power, as he was, of the Emperor, who 
was himself a party interested in the dispute. A neu- 
tral place might have been easily found. Neutral 
judges might be less easily procurable; but none 
could be less fit than his Holiness. The Queen, how- 
ever, replied stoutly as ever that her cause should be 
judged by the Pope and by no one else ; not that she 
expected any favour at his hands ; so far the Pope had 
shown himself so partial to the King that more could 
not be asked of him ; she, and not the King, had cause 
to complain of his Holiness; but the Pope held the 
place and had the power of God upon earth, and was 
the image of eternal truth. To him, and only to him, 
she remitted her case. If trouble came, it would be 
the work of others, not of her. She allowed that in 
past times the King had assisted her relations. The 
Emperor had not denied it, and was the King's true 
friend. With a scornful allusion to the Supremum 
Caput, she said, the King might be Lord and Master 
in temporal matters, but the Poj)e was the true Sover- 



Deputation to the Queen. 171 

eign and Vicar of God in matters spiritual, of which 
matrimony was one. 1 

The Spanish Legate had succeeded no better with 
Charles, who returned a peremptory refusal; but so 
little confidence had the Emperor in the true Sover- 
eign and Vicar of God that he insisted not merely 
that the Pope should try the case, but should try it in 
his own presence, lest the Queen's interests should 
suffer injury. The request itself indicated a disposi- 
tion on the Pope's part to evade his duty. Charles 
gave him to understand, in language sufficiently per- 
emptory, that he intended that duty to be done. 2 

In this direction there was no hope. Catherine 
had been even more emphatic with the deputation. 
After her reply to Norfolk, the bishops and lawyers 
took up the word. She always denied that she had 
been Prince Arthur's actual wife. She herself on all 
occasions courted the subject, and was not afraid of 
indelicacy. The Church doctors responded. They 
said she had slept with Prince Arthur, and the pre- 
sumptions were against her. She bade them go plead 
their presumptions at Rome, where they would have 
others than a woman to answer them. She was aston- 
ished, she said, to see so many great people gathered 
against a lone lady without friends or counsel. 

Among the great persons before her she had still 
some staunch friends. Anne Boleyn was detested by 
them all ; and those who, like Norfolk, wished her, for 
her own sake, to be less uncompromising could not 
refuse to admire the gallant spirit of Isabella's daugh- 
ter. But, alas! the refusal to allow the cause to be 
heard in a free city, before an impartial tribunal, was 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., June 6, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. 172. 

a Answer to the Papal Legate respecting the Cause of England, July, 
1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, p. 203. 



172 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

equivalent to a consciousness that, unless by a court 
under the Emperor's control, an unfavourable judg- 
ment was to be looked for. They could not, any one 
of them, allow their Sovereign to plead where an Im- 
perial Minister could threaten the lives of uncompliant 
Cardinals. But, unless every knightly feeling had 
been dead in them, they could not have refused their 
sympathy. Had the Pope spoken plainly from the 
first, most of the Peers would perhaps have stood by 
the lady before them with voice and sword. But the 
Pope had allowed that the King was in the right. He 
had drawn back only under compulsion, and even at 
that moment was only prevented by fear from decid- 
ing on the King's side. Glad as they might have 
been had the question never been raised, they could 
not submit their Prince to the indignity of a condem- 
nation by a coerced tribunal — a tribunal which was to 
be trusted to proceed only, as it now appeared, in the 
Emperor's own presence. 

They carried the answer back to their master. "I 
feared it would be so," he said, "knowing as I do the 
heart and temper of the Queen. We must now pro- 
vide in some other way." 

Norfolk, who wished well to the Queen, regretted 
that she had taken a course so little likely to profit 
her. "The Emperor's action," he said, "in causing 
the King to be cited to Rome was outrageous and un- 
precedented. The cause ought to be tried in England, 
and the Queen had been unwise in rejecting the ad- 
vice of the Peers." 1 

The Emperor on reflection reconsidered his own 
first refusal to allow the cause to be transferred; to 
insist on the trial being conducted before himself was 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., June 24, 1531. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. v. pp. 144-5. 



Attitude of the Emperor. 173 

really intolerable, and he drew a more moderate re- 
ply; but he still persisted that the Pope alone should 
hear the case, and decide it in the Queen's favour. 
"The affair," he said, "was of such a nature as to ad- 
mit of no solution save the declaring that a marriage 
contracted with the authority and license of the Holy 
See was valid and indissoluble. As the patron and 
defender of the Apostolic See he was more in duty 
bound than any other Prince to remove and defend 
all small offences and disputes." In fact he still ad- 
vanced a claim of sovereign jurisdiction which it was 
impossible for England to allow. 1 

Catherine was well aware that the Pope had been 
a party to the request for the removal of her cause, 
and bitterly she railed at him. Charles sent her a 
copy of his own answer. It reassured her, if she had 
doubted; she saw that, let Clement struggle how he 
woidd, she could be confident that her nephew would 
compel him to decide for her. The Pope, she an- 
nounced, was responsible for all that had happened by 
refusing to do her justice. This last move showed 
that he was as little disposed to apply the remedy 2 as 
he had been. If the cause was removed from Rome, 
the judges, whoever they might be, would declare that 
black was white. 3 

Up to this time Catherine had continued at the 
Court with her own apartments, and with the Prin- 
cess Mary as her companion. She had refused the 
only available means of a peaceful arrangement, and 
was standing out, avowedly resting on the Emperor's 
protection. She was not reticent. She spoke out 

1 The Emperor's Answer to the Legate, July 26, 1531. — Spanish Cal- 
endar, vol. iv. part 2, p. 218. 

2 Catherine's phrase for the excommunication of her hushand. 

3 Queen Catherine to Charles V., July 28. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iv. part 2, p. 220. 



174 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

freely of her wrongs and her expectations. To sepa- 
rate mother and daughter would have been a needless 
aggravation had the suit been between private individ- 
uals. But Mary was a public person with her own 
rights on the succession. It was found necessary to 
remove Catherine from London and to place the Prin- 
cess out of reach of her influence. Moor Park, which 
had been a country-house of Wolsey's, was assigned 
for the Queen's residence, while Mary was sent to the 
palace at Richmond. Catherine was too proud to re- 
sist when resistance would be useless, but she said she 
would prefer the Tower. 1 The Nuncio remonstrated. 
He advised the King "to recall her to the Court and 
shut a hundred thousand tongues." The King re- 
plied, "nearly in tears," that he had sent her away 
because she used such high words and was always 
threatening him with the Emperor. 2 Of Mary, 
Henry was personally fond. He met her one day in 
Richmond Park, spoke affectionately to her, and re- 
gretted that he saw her so seldom. She cannot be 
where the Lady is, said Chapuys, "because the Lady 
has declared that she will not have it, nor hear of her." 
She would not even allow the King to speak to Mary 
without being watched on the occasion just men- 
tioned. She sent two of her people to report what 
passed between them. 3 

1 Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, p. 239. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., January 4, 1532.— Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. v. p. 335. 

3 Chapuys to Charles V., October 1, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
v. part 2, p. 256. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Proposals for the reunion of Christendom — Warning addressed to the 
Pope — Address of the English nobles to Queen Catherine — Ad- 
vances of Clement to Henry — Embarrassments of the Pope and the 
Emperor — Unwillingness of the Pope to decide against the King — 
Business in Parliament — Reform of the English Church — Death 
of Archbishop Warham — Bishop Fisher and Chapuys — Question 
of annates — Papal Briefs — The Pope urged to excommunicate 
Henry —The Pope refuses — Anger of Queen Catherine's Agent. 

The unity of Christendom was not to be broken in 
pieces without an effort to preserve it. Charles V. 
was attempting impossibilities in his own dominions, 
labouring for terms on which the Lutheran States 
might return to the Church. He had brought the 
Pope to consent to the "communion in both kinds," 
and to the "marriage of priests " — a vast concession, 
which had been extorted by Micer Mai in the inter- 
vals of the discussions on the divorce. Efforts which 
fail are forgotten, but they represent endeavours at 
least honourable. Catherine was absorbed in her 
own grievances. Charles gave them as much atten- 
tion as he could spare, but had other things to think 
of. As long as he could prevent Clement from tak- 
ing any fatal step, he supposed that he had done 
enough. He had at least done all that he could, and 
he had evidently allowed Chapuys to persuade him that 
Henry's course would be arrested at the last extremity 
by his own subjects. He left Mai to watch the Pope, 
and Ortiz to urge for sentence ; but when the pres- 



176 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

sure of his own hand relaxed his agents could effect 
but little. The English Parliament was to open again 
in January. The King's Commissioners at Rome 
informed the Consistory that if it was decided finally 
to try the cause at Rome they were to take their leave, 
and the King would thenceforward regard the Pope 
as his public enemy. 1 The threat "produced a great 
impression." The Pope had no wish to be Henry's 
enemy in order to please the Emperor. Mai and 
Ortiz told him that the English menaces were but 
words; he had but to speak and England would sub- 
mit. The Pope did not believe it, and became again 
"lax and procrastinating." 2 

The English nobles made a last effort to move 
Catherine. Lord Sussex, Sir William Fitzwilliam, 
and Lee, Archbishop of York, who had been her 
warm supporter, waited on her at Moor Park to urge 
her, if she wotfcld not allow the case to be tried at 
Cambray, to permit it to be settled by a commission 
of bishops and lawyers. The Pope confessedly was 
not free to give his own opinion, and English 
causes could not be ruled by the Emperor. If Cath- 
erine had consented, it is by no means certain that 
Anne Boleyn would have been any more heard of. 
A love which had waited for five years could not have 
been unconquerable; and it was possible and even 
probable in the existing state of opinion that some 
other arrangement might have been made for the suc- 
cession. The difficulty rose from Catherine's deter- 
mination to force the King before a tribunal where 
the national pride would not permit him to plead. 
The independence of England was threatened, and 

1 Mai to Covos, Oct. 24, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, 
p. 276. 

2 Ibid. 



Determination of Catherine. 177 

those who might have been her friends were disarmed 
of their power to help her. Unfortunately for her- 
self, perhaps fortunately for the English race which 
was yet to be born, she remained still inflexible. 
" The King's plea of conscience," she said, "was not 
honest. He was acting on passion, pure and simple; 
and English judges would say black was white." Sus- 
sex and Fitzwilliam knelt to entreat her to reconsider 
her answer. She too knelt and prayed them for God's 
honour and glory to persuade the King to return to 
her, as she was his lawful wife. All present were in 
tears, but there was no remedy. Chapuys said that 
the coldness and indifference with which the affair 
was treated at Rome was paralysing her defenders. 
The question could not stand in debate for ever, and, 
unless the Pope acted promptly and resolutely, he 
feared that some strong act was not far distant. 1 

She was destroying her own chance. She persisted 
in relying on a defence which was itself fatal to her. 

" God knows what I suffer from these people," she 
wrote to the Emperor, "enough to kill ten men, much 
more a shattered woman who has done no harm. I 
can do nothing but appeal to God and your Majesty, 
.on whom alone my remedy depends. For the love of 
God procure a final sentence from his Holiness as soon 
as possible. The utmost diligence is required. May 
God forgive him for the many delays which he has 
granted and which alone are the cause of my ex- 
tremity. I am the King's lawful wife, and while 
I live I will say no other. The Pope's tardiness 
makes many on my side waver, and those who would 
say the truth dare not. Speak out yourself, that 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Oct. 16, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. 263. 



178 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

my friends may not think I am abandoned by all the 
world." 1 

Well might Catherine despair of Clement. While 
she was expecting him to excommunicate her husband, 
he was instructing his Nuncio to treat that husband 
as his most trusted friend. He invited Henry to as- 
sist in the Turkish war; he consulted him about the 
protection of Savoy from the Swiss Protestants; he 
apologised to him for the language which he was 
obliged to use on the great matter. Henry, con- 
temptuous and cool, "not showing the passion which 
he had shown at other times," replied that the Pope 
must be jesting in inviting him, far off as he was, to 
go to war with the Turk. If Christendom was in 
danger he would bear his part with the other Princes. 
As to Savoy, the Duke had disregarded the wishes of 
France and must take the consequences. For the rest, 
the message which he had sent through his Ambassa- 
dor at Rome was no more than the truth. "If," said 
he to the Nuncio, "I ask a thing which I think right, 
the answer is ' The law forbids. ' If the Emperor ask 
a thing, law and rides are changed to please him. 
The Pope has greatly wronged me. I have no parti- 
cular animosity against him. After all, he does not 
bear me much ill will. The fear of the Emperor 
makes him do things which he would not otherwise 
do. Proceedings may be taken against me at Rome. 
I care not. If sentence is given against me, I know 
what to do." 2 

The Pope never meant to give sentence if he could 
help it. Every day brought Parliament nearer and 

1 Catherine to Charles V., Nov. 6, 1531. — lb. p. 279. I must remind 
the reader that I have to compress the substance both of this and many 
other letters. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 4, 1531. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. 320. 



Impatience of Catherine. 179 

he drove Mai distracted with his evasions. "I have 
said all that I could to his Holiness and the Cardinals 
without offending them," he reported to Charles. 
"Your Majesty may believe me when I say that these 
devils are to a man against us. Some take side 
openly, being of the French or English faction ; oth- 
ers will be easily corrupted, for every day I hear the 
English Ambassador receives bills for thousands of 
ducats, which are said to go in bribery." 1 

Promises were given in plenty, but no action fol- 
lowed, and Ortiz had the same story to tell Catherine. 
"Your Ambassador at Rome," she wrote to her 
nephew, "thinks the Pope as cold and indifferent as 
when the suit began. I am amazed at his Holiness. 
How can he allow a suit so scandalous to remain so 
lono- undecided? His conduct cuts me to the soul. 
You know who has caused all this mischief. Were 
the King once free from the snare in which he has 
been caught he would confess that God had restored 
his reason. His misleaders goad him on like a bull 
in the arena. Pity that a man so good and virtuous 
should be thus deceived. God enlighten his mind! " 2 

To the Emperor himself, perhaps, the problem was 
growing more difficult than he expected. He himself 
at last pressed for sentence, but sentence was nothing 
unless followed by excommunication if it was dis- 
obeyed, and the Pope did not choose to use his thun- 
der if there was to be no thunderbolt to accompany it. 
The Cardinal Legate in Spain assured him that the 
Emperor would employ all his force in the execution 
of the censures. The Pope said that he prized that 
promise as "a word from Heaven." But though 

1 Mai to Charles V., Dec. 12. — Sjianish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, 
p. 328. 

2 Catherine to Charles V., Dee. 15, 1531. —lb. p. 331. 



180 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Charles might think the English King was doing what 
was wrong and unjust, was it so wrong and so unjust 
that fire and sword were to be let loose through Chris- 
tendom? Chapuys and Catherine were convinced 
that there would be no need of such fierce remedies. 
They might be right, but how if they were not right? 
How if England supported the King? The Emperor 
could not be certain that even his own subjects would 
approve of a war for such an object. Three years 
later, when the moment for action had arrived, if ac- 
tion was to be taken at all, it will be seen that the 
Spanish Council of State took precisely this view of 
the matter, and saw no reason for breaking the peace 
of Europe for what, after all, was but " a family quar- 
rel." The Pope was cautious. He knew better than 
his passionate advisers how matters really stood. 
"The Pope may promise," Mai said, "but as long as 
the world remains in its troubled state, these people 
will be glad of any excuse to prolong the settlement." 
January came, when the English Parliament was to 
meet, and the note was still the same. "The Pope 
says," wrote Mai, "that we must not press the Eng- 
lish too hard. I have exhausted all that I could say 
without a rupture. I told him he was discrediting the 
Queen's case and your Majesty's authority. I made 
him understand that I should be obliged to apply else- 
where for the justice that was denied me at Rome. 
He owns that I am right, but Consistory follows Con- 
sistory and more delays are allowed. We can but 
press on as we have always done, and urge your Maj- 
esty's displeasure." 1 

If a sentence could not be had, Ortiz insisted on 
the issue of another minatory brief. Anne Boleyn 

1 Mai to the Emperor, Jan. 15, 1532. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 360. 



A New Brief. 181 

must be sent from the court. The King must be 
made to confess his errors. The Pope assented; said 
loudly that he would do justice; though England and 
France should revolt from the Holy See in conse- 
quence, a brief should go, and, if it was disobeyed, 
he would proceed to excommunicate : "the Kings of 
England and France were so bound together that if 
he lost one he lost both, but he would venture notwith- 
standing." But like the Cardinals who condemned 
Giordano Bruno, Clement was more afraid of passing 
judgment than Henry of hearing it passed. The brief 
was written and was sent, but it contained nothing 
but mild expostulation. 1 All the distractions of the 
world were laid at the door of the well-meaning, un- 
certain, wavering Clement. La Pommeraye, the 
French Ambassador in London, said (Chapuys 
vouches for the words) that "nothing could have been 
so easy as to bring all Christian Princes to agree had 
not that devil of a Pope embroiled and sown dissen- 
sion through Christendom." 2 

In England alone was to be found clear purpose and 
steadiness of action. The divorce in England was an 
important feature in the quarrel with the Papacy, but 
it was but a single element in the great stream of Re- 
formation, and the main anxiety of King and people 
was not fixed on Catherine, but on the mighty changes 
which were rushing forward. When a Parliament 
was first summoned, on the fall of Wolsey, the Queen 
had assumed that it was called for nothing else but to 
empower the King to separate from her. So she 
thought at the beginning, so she continued to think. 
Yet session had followed session, and the Legislature 

1 Clement VII. to Henry VIII., Jan. 25, 1532.— Calendar, Foreign, 
and Domestic, vol. v. p. 358. 

2 Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 368, 



182 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

had found other work to deal with. They had man- 
acled the wrists of her friends, the clergy; but that 
was all, and she was to have yet another year of res- 
pite. The "blind passion" which is supposed to have 
governed Henry's conduct was singularly deliberate. 
Seven years had passed since he had ceased cohabi- 
tation with Catherine, and five since he had fallen 
under the fascination of the impatient Anne; yet he 
went on as composedly with public business as if Anne 
had never smiled on him, and he was still content to 
wait for this particular satisfaction. As long as hope 
remained of saving the unity of Christendom without 
degrading England into a vassal State of the Empire, 
Henry did not mean to break it. He had occupied 
himself, in concert with the Parliament, with reform- 
ing the internal disorders and checking the audacious 
usurpations of the National Church. He had, so far, 
been enthusiastically supported by the immense ma- 
jority of the laity, and was about to make a further 
advance in the same direction. 

The third Session opened on 13th of January, 
Peers, Prelates, and Commons being present in full 
number. By this time a small but active opposition 
had been formed in the Lower House to resist meas- 
ures too violently anti-clerical. They met occasionally 
to concert operations at the Queen's Head by Temple 
Bar. The Bishops, who had been stunned by the 
Praemunire, were recovering heart and intending to 
show fight. Tunstal of Durham, who had been re- 
flecting on the Koyal Supremacy during the recess, 
repented of his consent, and had written his misgiv- 
ings to the King. The King used the opportunity to 
make a remarkable reply. 

"People conceive," he said, "that we are minded to 
separate our Church of England from the Church of 



Struggles of the English Bishops. 183 

Rome, and you think the consequences ought to be 
considered. My Lord, as touching- schism, we are 
informed by virtuous and learned men that, consider- 
ing what the Church of Rome is, it is no schism to 
separate from her, and adhere to the Word of God. 
The lives of Christ and the Pope are very opposite, 
and therefore to follow the Pope is to forsake Christ. 
It is to be trusted the Papacy will shortly vanish 
away, if it be not reformed; but, God willing, we 
shall never separate from the Universal body of Chris- 
tian men." 1 

Archbishop Warham also had failed to realise the 
meaning of his consent to the Royal Supremacy. He 
had consecrated the Bishop of St. Asaph on the re- 
ceipt of a nomination from Rome before the Bulls had 
been presented to the King. He learnt that he was 
again under a Praemunire. The aged Primate, fallen 
on evil times, drew the heads of a defence which he 
intended to make, but never did make, in the House 
of Lords. Archbishops, he said, were not bound to 
enquire whether Bishops had exhibited their Bulls or 
not. It had not been the custom. If the Archbishop 
could not give the spiritualities to one who was pro- 
nounced a bishop at Rome till the King had granted 
him his temporalities, the spiritual powers of the 
Archbishops would depend on the temporal power of 
the Prince, and would be of little or no effect, which 
was against God's law. In consecrating the Bishop 
of St. Asaph he had acted as the Pope's Commis- 
sary. The act itself was the Pope's act. The point 
for which the King contended was one of the Articles 
which Henry II. sought to extort at Clarendon, and 
which he was afterwards compelled to abandon. The 

1 Henry VIII. to the Bishop of Durham, Feb. 24, 1532. Compressed, 
— Calendar \ Foreign and Domestic, vol. v. p. 387. 



184 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

liberties of the Church were guaranteed by Magna 
Charta, and the Sovereigns who had violated them, 
Henry II., Edward III., Richard II., had come to 
an ill end. The lay Peers had threatened that they 
would defend the matter with their swords. The lay 
Peers should remember what befell the knights who 
slew St. Thomas. The Archbishop said he would 
rather be hewn in pieces than confess this Article, for 
which St. Thomas died, to be a Praemunire. 1 

Warham was to learn that the spirit of Henry II. 
was alive again in the present Henry, and that the 
Constitutions of Clarendon, then premature, were to 
become the law of the land. 

Fisher of Rochester had received no summons to 
attend the present Parliament ; but he sent word to the 
Imperial Ambassador that he would be in his place, 
whether called up or not, that he might defend Cath- 
erine should any measure be introduced which affected 
her. He begged Chapuys not to mention his name in 
his despatches, except in cipher. If they met in pub- 
lic Chapuys must not speak to him or appear to know 
him. He on his part would pass Chapuys without 
notice till the present tyranny was overpast. Bishop 
Fisher was entering upon dangerous courses, which 
were to lead him into traitorous efforts to introduce 
an invading army into England and to bring his own 
head to the block. History has only pity for these 
unfortunate old men, and does not care to remember 
that, if they coidd have had their way, a bloodier per- 
secution than the Marian would have made a swift 
end of the Reformation. 

I need not repeat what I have written elsewhere on 

1 Archbishop Warham, 1532. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. 
y. p. 541. 



Church Legislation. 185 

the acts of this Session. 1 A few details only deserve 
further notice. The privilege of the clergy to com- 
mit felony without punishment was at last abolished. 
Felonious clerks were thenceforward to suffer like sec- 
ular criminals. An accident provided an illustrative 
example. A priest was executed in London for chip- 
ping- the coin, having been first drawn through the 
streets in the usual way. Thirty women sued in vain 
for his pardon. He was hanged in his habit, without 
being degraded, against the protest of the Bishop — 
"a thing never done before since the Island was Chris- 
tian." 1 The Constitutions of Clarendon were to be 
enforced at last. The Arches court and the Bishops' 
courts were reformed on similar lines, their methods 
and their charges being brought within reasonable 
limits. Priests were no longer allowed to evade the 
Mortmain Acts by working on death-bed terrors. 
The exactions for mortuaries, legacy duties, and pro- 
bate duties, long a pleasant source of revenue, were 
abolished or cut down. The clergy in their synods 
had passed what laws they pleased and enforced them 
with spiritual terrors. The clergy were informed that 
they would no longer be allowed to meet in synod 
without royal licence, and that their laws would be 
revised by laymen. Chapuys wittily observed that 
the clergy were thus being made of less account than 
cordwainers, who could at least enact their own stat- 
utes. 

A purpose of larger moment was announced by 
Henry for future execution. More's chancellorship 
had been distinguished by heresy-prosecutions. The 
stake in those three years had been more often lighted 

1 History of England, vol. i. p. 322, etc. 

2 Carlo Capello to the Signory, July 10, 1532. — Venetian Calendar, 
vol. iv. p. 342. 



186 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

than under all the administration of Wolsey. It was 
as if the Bishops had vented on those poor victims 
their irritation at the rude treatment of their privileges. 
The King said that the clergy's province was with 
souls, not with bodies. They were not in future to 
arrest men on suspicion, imprison, examine, and pun- 
ish at their mere pleasure. There was an outcry, in 
which the Chancellor joined. The King suspended 
his resolution for the moment, but did not abandon it. 
- He was specially displeased with More, from whom 
he^had expected better things. He intended to per- 
sist. * "May God," exclaimed the orthodox and 
shocked Chapuys, "send such a remedy as the inten- 
sity of the evil requires." 1 None of Henry's misdeeds 
shocked Chapuys so deeply as the tolerating heresy. 

The Royal Supremacy had been accepted by Con- 
vocation. It was not yet confirmed by Parliament. 
Norfolk felt the pulses of the Peers. He called a 
meeting at Norfolk House. He described the Pope's 
conduct. He insisted on the usual topics — that matri- 
monial causes were of temporal jurisdiction, not spirit- 
ual ; that the King was sovereign in his own domin- 
ions, etc., etc., and he invited the Peers' opinions. 
The Peers were cold. Lord Darcy had spoken freely 
against the Pope in his indictment of Wolsey. It 
seemed his ardour was abating. He said the King 
and Council must manage matters without letting loose 
a cat among the legs of the rest of them. 2 The meet- 
ing generally agreed with Darcy, and was not pressed 
further. Papal privilege came before Parliament in 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 13, 1532. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 446. 

2 " Le Roy et son Conseil SQavoient hien qu'il y en avoient a faire 
sans vouloir mestre le chat entre les jambes dautres." Chapuys to 
the Emperor, Feb. 14, 1532. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 
384; Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. v. p. 381. 



The Annates Bill 187 

a more welcome form when a bill was introduced to 
withdraw annates or first fruits of benefices which had 
been claimed and paid as a tribtite to the Holy See. 
The imposition was a grievance. There were no an- 
nates in Spain. The Papal collectors were detested. 
The House of Commons made no difficulty. The Nun- 
cio complained to the King. The King told him that 
it was not he who brought forward these measures. 
They were moved by the people, who hated the Pope 
marvellously. 1 In the Upper House the Bishops stood 
by their spiritual chief this time unanimously. 
Among the mitred Abbots there was division of opin- 
ion. The abbeys had been the chief sufferers from 
annates, and had complained of the exaction for cen- 
turies. All the lay Peers, except Lord Arundel, sup- 
ported the Government. The bill was passed, but 
passed conditionally, leaving power to the Crown to 
arrange a compromise if the Pope would agree to 
treat. For the next year the annates were paid in 
full, as usual, to give time for his Holiness to consider 
himself. 2 

Thus steadily the Parliament moved on. Arch- 
bishop Warham, who was dying broken-hearted, dic- 
tated a feeble protest from his bed against all which 
had been done by it in derogation of the Pope or in 
limitation of the privileges of the Church. More had 
fought through the session, but, finding resistance use- 
less, resigned the chancellorship. He saw what was 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 28, 1532. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. v. p. 392. 

2 An address purporting to have been presented by Convocation on 
this occasion, not only complaining of the annates, but inviting a com- 
plete separation from the See of Rome, was perhaps no more than a 
draft submitted to the already sorely humiliated body, and not accepted 
by it. — History of England, vol. i. p. 332-3. The French Ambassador 
says distinctly that the clergy agreed to nothing, but their refusal was 
treated as of no consequence. 



188 TJie Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

coming. He could not prevent it. If he retained his 
office he found that he must either go against his con- 
science or increase the displeasure of the King. 1 He 
preferred to retire. 

In this way, at least in England, the situation was 
clearing, and parties and individuals were drifting into 
definite positions. Montfalconet, 2 writing to Charles 
in May, said that he had been in England and had 
seen Queen Catherine, who was still clamouring for 
the Pope's sentence. u Every one," he continued, 
speaking for the Catholic party, whom alone he had 
seen, "was angry with the Pope, and angry with the 
Emperor for not pressing him further. Peers, clergy, 
laity, all loved the Queen. She was patient. She 
thought that if she could but see the King all might 
yet be well. Were the sentence once delivered she 
was satisfied that he would submit." 3 The French 
Ambassador in London, on the other hand, recom- 
mended Francis to force the Pope to hold his hand. 
He told Chapuys that "France must and would take 
Henry's part if a rupture came. The Emperor had 
no right to throw Europe into confusion for the sake 
of a woman. If the King of England wished to 
marry again, he should do as Louis XII. had done 
under the same circumstances — take the woman that 
he liked and waste no more time and money." 4 

At Rome the Pope had been fingering his briefs 
with hesitating heart. The first, which he had issued 
under Charles's eye at Bologna, had been compar- 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 22, 1532. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. v. p. 476. 

2 Maitre d'hotel to the Emperor, and Governor of Brescia. 

3 Montfalconet to Charles V., May, 1532. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. v. p. 479. 

4 Chapuys to the Emperor, April 16, 1532. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iv. part 1, p. 425. In 1499 Louis XII. repudiated his first wife, Jeanne 
de France, and married Anne of Brittany, -widow of Charles VIII. 



The Papal Censures. 189 

atively firm. He had there ordered Henry to take 
Catherine back under penalty of excommunication. 
The last, though so hardly extracted from him, was 
meagre and insignificant. The King, when it was 
presented, merely laughed at it. "The Pope," he 
said, "complains that I have sent the Queen away. 
If his Holiness considers her as my wife, the right of 
punishing her for the rudeness of her behaviour be- 
longs to me and not to him." 1 

Ortiz, finding it hopeless to expect a decision on 
the marriage itself from the Pope, demanded excom- 
munication on the plea of disobedience to the Bologna 
brief. He had succeeded, or thought he had suc- 
ceeded, in bringing the Pope to the point. The ex- 
communication was drawn up, "but when it was to 
be engrossed and sealed the enemy of mankind pre- 
vented its completion in a manner only known to 
God." Ortiz continued to urge. The document could 
be sent secretly to the Emperor, to be used at his dis- 
cretion. "If the Emperor thought fit to issue it, 
bearing, as it did, God's authority, God in such cases 
would infallibly send his terrors upon earth and pro- 
vide that no ill should come of it." 2 The Pope was 
less certain that God would act as Ortiz undertook for 
him, and continued to offend the Lord by delay. In 
vain Catherine's representative railed at him, in vain 
told him that he would commit a great sin and offence 
against God if he did not excommunicate a King who 
was, in mortal sin, keeping a mistress at his Court. 
The Pope rationally answered that there was no evi- 
dence of mortal sin. "It was the custom in England 
for Princes to converse intimately with ladies. He 
could not prove that, in the present case, there was 

1 Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 447. 

2 Ortiz to Charles V., May, 1532. — Ibid. p. 438. 



190 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

anything worse, and the King might allege his con- 
science as a reason for not treating the Queen as a 
husband." l Ortiz insisted that the devil had got hold 
of the King in the shape of that woman, and unless 
the Pope obliged him to put her away, the Pope would 
be damned. But it was an absurdity to excommuni- 
cate the King and declare him to have forfeited his 
crown when the original cause of the quarrel was still 
undecided. The King might prove after all to be 
right, as modern law and custom has in fact declared 
him to have been. 

Charles himself felt that such a position could not 
be maintained. Henry was evidently not frightened. 
There was no sign that the English people were turn- 
ins: against him. If a bull of excommunication was 
issued, Charles himself would be called on to execute 
it, and it was necessary to be sure of his ground. 

Ortiz raged on. "I told his Holiness," he wrote, 
"that if he did not excommunicate the King I would 
stand up at the day of judgment and accuse him before 
God." 2 Charles was obliged to tell Ortiz that he 
must be more moderate. A further difficulty had 
risen in Rome itself. If the cause was tried at Rome, 
was it to be tried before the Cardinals in consistory or 
before the court of the Rota? The Cardinals were 
men of the world. Micer Mai's opinion was that 
from the Rota only a judgment could be with certainty 
expected in the Queen's favour. 3 "The winds are 
against us," he wrote to Secretary Covos; "what is 
done one day is undone the next. The Cardinals will 
not stir, but quietly pocket the ducats which come 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. v. p. 539. 

2 Ortiz to Charles V., July 28, 1532. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 486. 

3 Ortiz to Charles V., July 28, 1532. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, p. 414. _ 



Micer Mai and the Cardinal 8. 191 

from the Emperor, and the larger sums which come 
from the English, who are lavish in spending. The 
Pope will not break with France. He says he has so 
many ties with the Kings of France and England that 
he must pretend goodwiU to the latter for fear they 
both break off from the Church, as they have threat- 
ened to do." * 

1 Ortiz to Charles V., July 28, 1532. -Spanish Calendar, vol iv 
part 1, p. 409. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Henry advised to marry without waiting for sentence — Meeting of 
Henry and Francis — Anne Boleyn present at the interview — Value 
of Anne to the French Court — Pressure on the Pope hy the Agents 
of the Emperor — Complaints of Catherine — Engagements of Fran- 
cis — Action of Clement — The King conditionally excommunicated 
— Demand for final sentence — Cranmer appointed Archbishop of 
Canterbury — Marriage of Henry and Anne Boleyn — Supposed 
connivance of the Pope — The Nuncio attends Parliament — The 
Act of Appeals — The Emperor entreated to intervene — Chapuys 
and the King. 

The Pope had promised Ortiz that nothing should 
be said of the intended excommunication till the brief 
was complete. He betrayed the secret to the English 
Agents, by whom it was conveyed to Henry. The 
French Ambassador had advised the King to hesitate 
no longer, but to marry and end the controversy. 
The Pope himself had several times in private ex- 
pressed the same wish. But Henry, in love though 
he is supposed to have been, determined to see Fran- 
cis in person before he took a step which could not be 
recalled. He desired to know distinctly how far 
France was prepared to go along with him in defying 
the Papal censures. An interview between the two 
King's at such a crisis would also show the world that 
their alliance was a practical fact, and that if the 
Emperor declared war in execution of the censures he 



Meeting of Henry and Francis. 193 

would have France for an enemy as well as Eng- 
land. 

The intended meeting was announced at the end of 
August, and, strange to say, there was still a belief 
prevailing that a marriage would come of it between 
the King and a French princess, and that Anne would 
be disappointed after all. "If it be so," wrote Cha- 
puys, "the Lady Anne is under a singular delusion, 
for she writes to her friends that at this interview all 
that she has been so long wishing for will be accom- 
plished." One thing was clear, both to the Imperial 
Ambassador and the Nuncio, that the Pope by his 
long trifling had brought himself into a situation 
where he must either have to consent to a judgment 
against Catherine or encounter as best he could the 
combination of two of the most powerful Princes in 
Christendom. The least that he could do was to 
issue an inhibition against the King's marriage either 
with Anne or with the Frenchwoman. 

The Pope's danger was real enough, but Anne 
Boleyn had nothing to fear for herself. She was to 
form part of the cortege. She was to go, and to be 
received at the French court as Henry's bride-elect, 
and she was created Marchioness of Pembroke for the 
occasion. Queen Catherine believed that the mar- 
riage would be completed at the interview with a pub- 
licity which would make Francis an accomplice. The 
Emperor was incredulous. Reluctantly he had been 
driven to the conclusion that Henry was really in ear- 
nest, and he still thought it impossible that such an 
outrage as a marriage could be seriously contemplated 
while the divorce was still undecided. 1 Yet contem- 

1 Charles V. to Mary of Hungary, Nov. 7, 1532. — Calendar, Foreign 
and Domestic, vol. v. p. 642. 



194 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

plated it evidently was. Politically the effect would 
have been important, and it is not certain that Fran- 
cis would not have encouraged a step which would be 
taken as an open insult by Charles. The objection, 
so Chapuys heard, came from the lady herself, who 
desired to be married in state with the usual formali- 
ties in London. 1 Invited to the interview, however, 
she certainly was by Francis. The French Queen 
sent her a present of jewels. The Sieur de Langey 
came with special compliments from the King to re- 
quest her attendance. She had been a useful instru- 
ment in dividing Henry from the Emperor, and his 
master, De Langey said, desired to thank her for 
the inestimable services which she had rendered, and 
was daily rendering him. He wished to keep her 
devoted to his interests. Wolsey himself had not 
been more valuable to him. He had not to pay her a 
pension of 25,000 crowns, as he had done to the Car- 
dinal. Therefore he meant to pay her in flattery and 
in forwarding the divorce at Rome. 2 

In vain Catherine poured out to Clement her wail- 
ing cries for sentence — sentence without a moment's 
delay. Less than ever could the Pope be brought to 
move. He must wait and see what came of the meet- 
ing of the Kings ; and whether the Emperor got the 
better of the Turks. It was the harder to bear be- 
cause she had persuaded herself, and had persuaded 
Ortiz, that, if the King was once excommunicated, 
the whole of England would rise against him for his 
contumacious disobedience. 3 



1 Chapuys to Charles V., Oct. 1, 1532. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. v. p. 592. 

2 Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 512. 

3 Ortiz to the Emperor, Sept. 30, 1532. — lb. p. 533. 



French Bishops sent to Home. 195 

The interview which took place in October between 
the Kings of France and England was a momentous 
incident in the struggle, for it did, in fact, decide 
Henry to take the final step. The scene itself, the fes- 
tivities, the regal reception of Anne, the Nun of Kent 
and the discovery of the singular influence which a 
hysterical impostor had been able to exercise in the 
higher circles of English life, have already been de- 
scribed by me, and I can add nothing to what I have 
already written. A more particular account, however, 
must be given of a French Commission which was 
immediately after despatched to Rome. Francis had 
not completely satisfied Henry. He had repeated the 
advice of his Ambassadors. lie had encouraged the 
King to marry at once. He had reiterated his pro- 
mises of support if the Emperor declared war. Even 
an engagement which Henry had desired to ob- 
tain from him, to unite France with England in a 
separate communion, should the Pope proceed to vio- 
lence, Francis had seemed to give, and had wished 
his good brother to believe it. But his language 
had been less explicit on this point than on the 
other. 

The Bishop of Tarbes, now Cardinal Grammont, 
was sent to Rome, with Cardinal Tournon, direct 
from the interview, with open instructions to demand 
a General Council, to inform the Pope that if he re- 
fused the two Kings would call a Council themselves 
and invite the Lutheran Princes to join them, and 
that, if the Pope excommunicated Henry, he would 
go to Rome for absolution so well accompanied that 
the Pope would be glad to grant it. 1 If Catherine's 

1 Instructions to Cardinal Grammont and Tournon, Nov. 13, 1532. — 
Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. v. p. 648. 



196 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

friends in Rome were rightly informed, the Cardinals 
had brought also a secret Commission, which went the 
full extent of Henry's expectation. The Pope was to 
be required to fulfil at once the promise which he had 
given at Orvieto, and to give judgment for the divorce; 
"otherwise the Kings of France and England would 
abrogate the Papal authority in their several realms." 
The Pope, confident that the alternative before him 
was the loss of the two kingdoms, was preparing to 
yield. 1 Henry certainly returned to England with an 
understanding that Francis and himself were per- 
fectly united, and woidd adopt the same course, what- 
ever that might be. A report went abroad that, 
relying on these assurances, he had brought his hesi- 
tation to an end, and immediately after landing made 
Anne secretly his wife. The rumour was premature, 
but the resolution was taken. The Pope, the King- 
said, was making himself the tool of the Emperor. 
The Emperor was judge, and not the Pope; and 
neither he nor his people would endure it. He would 
maintain the liberties of his country, and the Pope, if 
he tried violence, would find his mistake. 2 

It is not easy to believe that on a point of such vast 
consequence Henry could have misunderstood what 
Francis said, and he considered afterwards that he had 
been deliberately deceived; but under any aspect the 
meeting was a demonstration against the Papacy. 
Micer Mai, who watched the Pope from day to day, 
declared that his behaviour was enough to drive him 
out of his senses. Mai and Ortiz had at last forced 
another brief out of him — not a direct excommunica- 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Nov. 10. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, 
vol. v. p. 644. 

2 Ibid. p. 667. 



The Complaints of the Queen. 197 

tion, but an excommunication which was to follow on 
further disobedience. They had compelled him to put 
it in writing- that he might have committed himself 
before the French Cardinals' arrival. But when it 
was written he would not let it out of his hands. He 
was to meet the Emperor again at Bologna, and till 
he had learnt from Charles's own lips what he was 
prepared to do, it was unfair and unreasonable, he said, 
to require an act which might fatally commit him. 
He was not, however, to be allowed to escape. Cath- 
erine, when she heard of the despatch of the Cardi- 
nals, again flung herself on her nephew's protection. 
She insisted that the Pope should speak out. The 
French must not be listened to. There was nothing 
to be afraid of. "The English themselves carried no 
lightning except to strike her." 1 Letters from Ortiz 
brought her news of the Pope's continued indecision 
— an indecision fatal, as she considered it, to the 
Church and to herself. Rumours reached her that 
the King had actually married, and she poured out her 
miseries to Chapuys. "The letters from Rome," she 
said, "reopen all my wounds. They show there is no 
justice for me or my daughter. It is withheld from 
us for political considerations. I do not ask His 
Holiness to declare war — a war I would rather die 
than provoke ; but I have been appealing to the Vicar 
of God for justice for six years, and I cannot have it. 
I refused the proposals made to me two years ago by 
the King and Council. Must I accept them now? 
Since then I have received fresh injuries. I am sep- 
arated from my lord, and he has married another 
woman without obtaining a divorce ; and this last act 

1 To the Emperor, Nov, 11,— Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, 
p. 554. 



198 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

has been done while the suit is still pending, and in 
defiance of him who has the power of God upon earth. 
1 cover these lines with my tears as I write. I con- 
fide in you as my friend. Help me to bear the cross 
of my tribulation. Write to the Emperor. Bid him 
insist that judgment be pronounced. The next Par- 
liament, I am told, will decide if I and my daughter 
are to suffer martyrdom. I hope God will accept it 
as an act of merit by us, as we shall suffer for the 
sake of the truth." 1 

Catherine might say, and might mean, that she did 
not wish to be the cause of a war. But unless war 
was to be the alternative of her husband's submission, 
the Papal thunders would be as ineffectual as she sup- 
posed the English to be. The Emperor had not de- 
cided what he would do. He may still have clung to 
the hope that a decision would not be necessary, but 
he forced or persuaded the Pope to disregard the dan- 
ger. The brief was issued, bearing the date at which 
it was drawn, and was transmitted to Flanders as the 
nearest point to England for publication. 

In removing the Queen from his company without 
waiting for the decision of his cause, and cohabiting 
with a certain Anne, Clement told the King that he 
was insulting Divine justice and the Papal authority. 
He had already warned him, but his monition had not 
been respected. Again, therefore, he exhorted him 
on pain of excommunication to take Catherine back 
as his Queen, and put Anne away within a month of 
the presentation of the present letter. If the King 

1 Queen Catherine to Chapuys, Nov. 22, 15H2. — Compressed Spanish 
Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 291. The editor dates this letter Nov. 1531. 
He has mistaken the year. No report had prone abroad that the Kin^ 
■\vas married to Anne before his return from France. 



Conditional Excommunication of Henry. 199 

still disobeyed, the Pope declared both him and Anne 
to be, ipso facto, excommunicated at the expiration 
of the term fixed, and forbade him to divorce himself 
by his own authority. 1 

It might seem that the end had now come, and that 
in a month the King, and the subjects who continued 
loyal to him, would incur all the consequences of the 
Papal censures. But the proceedings of the Court of 
Rome were enveloped in formalities. Conditional 
excommunications affected the spiritual status of the 
persons denounced, but went no further. A second 
Bull of Excommunication was still requisite, declar- 
ing the King deposed and his subjects absolved from 
their allegiance, before the secular arm could be 
called in; and this last desperate remedy could not 
decently be resorted to, with the approval even of the 
Catholic opinion of Europe, until it had been decided 
whether Catherine was really legal queen. The en- 
thusiastic Ortiz, however, believed that judgment on 
"the principal cause " would now be immediately 
given, and that the victory was won. He enclosed to 
the Empress a letter from Catherine to him, "to be 
preserved as a relic, since she would one day be can- 
onised." "May God inspire the King of England," 
he said, " to acknowledge the error into which the En- 
emy of Mankind has led him, and amend his past 
conduct; otherwise it must follow that his disobedi- 
ence to the Pope's injunction and his infidelity to God 
once proved, he will be deprived of his kingdom and 
the execution of the sentence committed to his Imper 
rial Majesty. This done, all those in England who 
fear God will rise in arms, and the King will be 

1 Clement VII. to Henry VIII., Nov. 15, 1532 ; second date, Dec. 23. 
— Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. v. p. 650. 



200 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

punished as lie deserves, the present brief operating as 
a formal sentence against him. On the main cause, 
there being no one in Rome to answer for the opposite 
party, sentence cannot long be delayed. ,,1 

Ortiz was too sanguine, and the vision soon faded. 
The brief sounded formidable, but it said no more 
than had been contained or implied in another which 
Clement had issued three years before. He had al- 
lowed the first to be disregarded. He might equally 
allow the last. Each step which he had taken had 
been forced upon him, and his reluctance was not di- 
minished. Chapuys thought that he had given a 
brief instead of passing sentence because he could 
recall one and could not recall the other; that "he 
was playing both with the King and the Emperor;" 
and in England, as well as elsewhere, it was thought 
"that there was some secret intelligence between him 
and the King." The Pope and the Emperor had met 
at Bologna and Charles's language had been as em- 
phatic as Catherine desired ; yet even at Bologna it- 
self and during the conference Clement had assured 
the English Agents that there was still a prospect of 
compromise. It was even rumoured that the Empe- 
ror would allow the cause to be referred back to Eng- 
land, if securities could be found to protect the rights 
of the Princess Mary ; nay, that he had gone so far as 
to say, " that, if the King made a suitable marriage, 
and not a love-marriage, he would bring the Pope and 
Catherine to allow the first marriage to be annulled." 2 

In London the talk continued of the removal of the 
suit from Rome to Cambray. The Nuncio and the 

1 Ortiz to the Empress, Jan. 19, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 1, pp. 579-80. 

2 Carlo Oapello to the Sigiiory, March 15, 1533. — Venetian Calendar, 
vol. iv. p. 389, 



Unpopularity of Anne Boleyn. 201 

King were observed to be much together and on im- 
proved terms, the Nuncio openly saying that his Ho- 
liness wished to be relieved of the business. It was 
even considered still possible that the Pope might 
concede the dispensation to the King which had been 
originally asked for, to marry again without legal 
process. "If," wrote Chapuys, who thoroughly dis- 
trusted Clement, " the King once gains the point of not 
being obliged to appear at Rome, the Pope will have 
the less shame in granting the dispensation by abso- 
lute power, as it is made out that the King's right is 
so evident; and if his Holiness refuses it, the King- 
will be more his enemy than ever. A sentence is the 
only sovereign remedy, and the Queen says the King 
would not resist, if only from fear of his subjects, 
who are not only well disposed to her and to your 
Majesty, but for the most part are good Catholics and 
would not endure excommunication and interdict. If 
a tumult arose I know not if the Lady, who is hated 
by all the world, would escape with life and jewels. 
But, unless the Pope takes care, he will lose his au- 
thority here, and his censures will not be regarded." 1 
It was true that Anne was ill liked in Enojland, and 
the King, in choosing her, was testing the question of 
his marriage in the least popular form which it could 
have assumed. The Venetian Ambassador mentions 
that one evening "seven or eight thousand women 
went out of London to seize Boleyn 's daughter," who 
was supping at a villa on the river, the King not 
being with her. Many men were among them in 
women's clothes. Henry, however, showed no sign 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 9, 153?, vol. vi. p. 62. The same let- 
ter will be found in the S2)anish Calendar, with some differences in the 
translation. The original French is in parts obscure. 



202 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

of change of purpose. He had presented her to the 
French Court as his intended Queen. And on such 
a matter he was not to be moved by the personal ob- 
jections of his subjects. The month allowed in the 
brief went by. She was still at the court, and the 
continued negotiations with the Nuncio convinced 
Catherine's friends that there was mischief at work 
behind the scenes. Their uneasiness was increased by 
the selection which was now made of a successor to 
Archbishop Warham. 

Thomas Cranmerhad been Lord Wiltshire's private 
chaplain, and had at one time been his daughter's 
tutor. He had attended her father on his Embassy 
to the Emperor, had been active in collecting opinions 
on the Continent favourable to the divorce, and had 
been resident ambassador at the Imperial court. He 
had been much in Germany. He was personally ac- 
quainted with Luther. „ He had even married, and, 
though he could not produce his wife openly, the con- 
nection was well known. Protestant priests in taking- 
wives were asserting - only their natural liberty. 
Luther had married, and had married a nun. An 
example j^udable at Wittenberg- could not be cen- 
surable in London by those who held Luther excused. 
The German clergy had released themselves from their 
vows, as an improvement on the concubinage which 
had long and generally prevailed. Wolsey had a son 
and was not ashamed of him, even charging his edu- 
cation on English benefices. Clerical marriages were 
forbidden only by the Church law, which Parliament 
had never been invited to sanction, and though Cran- 
mer could not introduce a wife into society he was at 
least as fit for archi -episcopal rank as the great Cardi- 
nal. He was a man of high natural gifts, and ardent 



Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. 203 

to replace superstition and corruption by purer teach- 
ing. The English Liturgy survives to tell us what 
Cranmer was. His nomination to the Primacy took 
the world by surprise, for as yet he had held no higher 
preferment than an archdeaconry ; but the reorganisa- 
tion of the Church was to begin; Parliament was to 
meet again in February, and the King needed all the 
help that he could find in the House of Lords. The 
Bishops were still but half conquered. A man of in- 
tellect and learning was required at the head of them. 
"King Henry loved a man," it was said. He knew 
Cranmer and valued him. The appointment was 
made known in the first month of the new year. Be- 
fore the new Primate could be installed a Bull of 
Confirmation was still legally necessary from Rome. 
The King was in haste. The annates due on the va- 
cancy of the see of Canterbury were despatched at 
once, the King himself advancing the money and tak- 
ing no advantage of the late Act. Such unusual pre- 
cipitancy raised suspicions that something more was 
contemplated in which Cranmer' s help would be 
needed. 

The knot had, in fact, been cut which Henry had 
been so long struggling to untie. The Lady Anne 
had aspired to being the central figure of a grand 
ceremony. Her nuptials were to be attended with 
the pomp and splendour of a royal marriage. Public 
feeling was in too critical a condition to permit what 
might have been resented ; and, lest the prize should 
escape her after all, she had brought down her pride 
to agree to a private service. When it was per- 
formed, and by whom, was never known. The date 
usually received was "on or before the 25th of Jan- 
uary." Chapuys says that Cranmer himself officiated 



204 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

in the presence of the lady's father, mother and 
brother, two other friends of the lady, and a Canter- 
bury priest. 1 But Chapuys was relating only the 
story current at the time in society. Nothing au- 
thentic has been ascertained. . . . The fact that the 
marriage had taken place was concealed till the di- 
vorce could be pronounced by a Court protected by 
Act of Parliament, and perhaps with the hope that 
the announcement could be softened by the news that 
the nation might hope for an heir. 

Dispatch was thus necessary with Cranmer's 
Bulls. He himself spoke without reserve on the right 
of the King to remarry, "being ready to maintain it 
with his life." Chapuys and the Nuncio both wrote 
to request the Pope not to be in a hurry with the 
confirmation of so dangerous a person. 2 The Pope 
seemed determined to justify the suspicions enter- 
tained of him by his eagerness to meet Henry's wishes. 
It is certain that the warning had reached him. 3 He 
sent the Bulls with all the speed he could. He knew, 
perhaps, what they were needed for. 

Henry meanwhile was preparing to meet the Par- 
liament, when the secret would have to be communi- 
cated to the world. The modern reader will conceive 
that no other subject could have occupied his mind. 
The relative importance of things varies with the dis- 
tance from which we view them. He was King of 
England first. His domestic anxieties held still the 
second place. Before the opening, as the matter of 
greatest consequence, a draft Act was prepared to 

1 Chapuys to the Emperor, Feb. 23, 15:;:!. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iv. part 1, p. 609. 

2 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. vi. p. (>.". 

3 Ghinucci and Lee to Henry VIII., March 11, 1533, — Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. vi. p. 100. 



Limitation of the Powers of the BishojJS. 205 

carry out the object which in the last year he had 
failed in securing — "an Act to restrain bishops from 
citing or arresting any of the King's subjects to ap- 
pear before them, unless the bishop or his commissary 
was free from private grudge against the accused, 
unless there were three, or at least two, credible wit- 
nesses, and a copy of the libel had in all cases been 
delivered to the accused, with the names of the ac- 
cusers." Such an Act was needed. It was not to 
shield what was still regarded as impiety, for Frith 
was burned a few months later for a denial of the 
Real Presence, which Luther himself called heresy. 
It was to check the arbitrary and indiscriminate tyr- 
anny of a sour, exasperated party, who were pursuing 
everyone with fire and sword who presumed to oppose 
them. More, writing to Erasmus, said he had pur- 
posely stated in his epitaph that he had been hard 
upon the heretics. He so hated that folk that, unless 
they repented, he preferred their enmity, so mischiev- 
ous were they to the world. 1 

The spirit of More was alive and dangerous. To 
Catholic minds there could be no surer evidence that 
the King was given over to the Evil One than len- 
iency to heretics. They were the more disturbed to 
see how close the intimacy had grown between him 
and the Pope's representative. The Nuncio was con- 
stantly closeted with Henry or the Council. When 
Chapuys remonstrated, he said "he was a poor gentle- 
man, living on his salary, and could not do otherwise." 
"The Pope had advised him to neglect no opportunity 
of promoting the welfare of religion." "Practices," 
Chapuys ascertained, were still going forward, and the 

1 More to Erasmus. - Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. vi. p. 
144. r 



206 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragoti. 

Nuncio was at the bottom of them. The Nuncio as- 
sured him that he had exhorted the King to take 
Catherine back. The King had replied that he would 
not, and that reconciliation was impossible. Yet the 
secret communications did not cease, and the aston- 
ishment and alarm increased when the Nuncio con- 
sented to accompany the King to the opening of Par- 
liament. He was conducted in state in the Royal 
barge from Greenwich. Henry sate on the throne, 
the Nuncio had a chair on his right, and the French 
Ambassador on his left. The object was to show the 
nation how little was really meant by the threat of 
excommunication, to intimidate the Bishops, and to 
make the clergy understand the extent of favour 
which they could expect from the Nuncio's master. 
The Nuncio's appearance was not limited to a single 
occasion. During the progress of the Session he at- 
tended the debates in the House of Commons. Nor- 
folk gave him notice of the days on which the Pope 
would not be directly mentioned, that he might be 
present without scandal. The Duke admitted a wish 
for the world to see that the King and the Court of 
Rome understood each other. "By this presumption," 
said Chapuys, "they expect to make their profit as 
regards the people and the prelates who have hitherto 
supported the Holy See, who now, for the above 
reason, dare not speak, fearing to go against the 
Pope." 1 

The world wondered and was satisfied. The Op- 
position was paralysed. The Bishop of Rochester 
complained to the Nuncio, and received nothing but 
regrets and promises which were not observed. Again, 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 15.— Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, 
vol. vi. p. 73. Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, p. b'00. 



The Quedn Demands Sentence. 207 

a council was held of Peers, Bishops, and lawyers to 
consider the divorce, when it was agreed at last that 
the cause might be tried in the Archbishop of Canter- 
bury's court, and that the arrival of the Bulls would 
be accepted as a sign of the Pope's tacit connivance. 
Chapuys had failed to stop them. "The Queen," he 
said, "was thunderstruck, and complained bitterly of 
his Holiness. He had left her to languish for three 
and a half years since her appeal, and, instead of giv- 
ing sentence, had now devised a scheme to prolong 
her misery and bastardise her daughter. She knew 
the King's character. If sentence was once given 
there would be no scandal. The King would obey, 
or, if he did not, which she thought impossible, she 
would die happy, knowing that the Pope had declared 
for her. Her own mind would be at rest, and the 
Princess would not lose her right. The Pope was 
entirely mistaken if he thought that he would induce 
the King to modify his action against the Church. 
The Lady and her father, who were staunch Luther- 
ans, were urging him on. The sentence alone would 
make him pause. He dared not disobey, and if the 
people rose the Lady would find a rough handling." 
This, Chapuys said., was the Queen's opinion, which 
she had commanded him to communicate to the Em- 
peror. For himself, he could only repeat his request 
that the Bulls for Canterbury should be delayed till 
the sentence was ready for delivery. If the Pope 
knew Cranmer's reputation as a heretic, he would be 
in no haste to confirm him. 1 

Clement knew well enough what Cranmer was, and 
the Bulls had been despatched promptly before the 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feh. 9, 1533. Compressed, — Spa?ush Cal- 
endar, vol. iv. part 2, pp. 592-600. 



208 The Divorce of Catherine of A rag on. 

Emperor could interfere. The King meanwhile had 
committed himself, and now went straight forward. 
He allowed his marriage to be known. Lord Wilt- 
shire had withdrawn his opposition to it. 1 Lord Roch- 
fort, Anne's brother, was sent at the beginning of 
March to Paris, to say that the King had acted on 
the advice given him by his good brother at their last 
interview. He had taken a wife for the establish- 
ment of his realm in the hope of having male issue." 
He trusted, therefore, that Francis would remember 
his promise. In citing him to Rome the Pope had 
violated the rights of sovereign Princes. It touched 
them all, and, if allowed, would give the Pope uni- 
versal authority. The time was passed when such 
pretensions could be tolerated. 2 

At home he prepared for the worst. The fleet was 
further increased, new ships were put on the stocks ; 
the yeomanry were armed, drilled, and equipped, and 
England rang with sounds of preparation for war; 
while in Parliament the famous Act was introduced 
which was to form the constitutional basis of national 
independence, and to end for ever the Papal jurisdic- 
tion in England. From the time that Convocation 
had acknowledged the King to be the Head of the 
Church the question of appeals to Rome had been vir- 
tually before the country. It was now to be settled, 
and English lawsuits were henceforth to be heard and 
decided within the limits of the empire. The Sibyl's 

1 Chapuys here mentions this very curious fact : " The Earl of Wilt- 
shire," he wrote on Feb. 15, "has never declared himself up to this 
moment. On the contrary, he has hitherto, as the Duke of Norfolk has 
frequently told me, tried to dissuade the King rather than otherwise 
from the marriage." — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, p. 602. 

2 Henry VIII. to Francis I., March 11, 1533.— Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. vi. p. 103, 



The Act of Appeals. 209 

pages were being rent out one by one. The Prae- 
munire had been revived, and the Pope's claim of in- 
dependent right to interfere by bull or brief in Eng- 
lish affairs had been struck rudely down. Tribute in 
the shape of annates went next; the appellate juris- 
diction was now to follow. Little would then be left 
save spiritual precedence, and this might not be of 
long continuance. There had been words enough. 
The time had come to act. On the introduction of 
the Act of Appeals the King spoke out to Chapuys as 
if the spirit of the Plantagenets was awake in him. 
"He said a thousand things in disparagement of the 
Pope, complaining of the authority and power he 
unduly assumed over the kingdoms of Christendom. 
He professed to have seen a book from the Papal 
library, in which it was maintained that all Chris- 
tian princes were only feudatories of the Pope. He 
himself, he said, intended to put a remedy to such 
inordinate ambition, and repair the errors of Henry 
II. and John, who had been tricked into making Eng- 
land tributary to the Holy See." ""The Emperor," 
he said, "not only demanded justice, but would have 
justice done in his own way, and according to his own 
caprice. For himself, he thought of resuming to the 
Crown the lands of the clergy, which his predecessors 
had alienated without right." Chapuys advised him 
to wait for a General Council before he tried such 
high measures. "But the King could not be per- 
suaded "that a council was needed for such a pur- 
pose. 1 

The Act of Appeals touched too many interests to 
be passed without opposition. Private persons as 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., March 11, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iv. part 2, p. 619. 



210 The Divorce of Catherine of Arugon. 

well as princes had appealed to the Roman law-courts, 
and suits pending or determined there might be re- 
opened at home and produce confusion unless pro- 
vided for. However complacent the Pope might ap- 
pear, it could not be supposed that he would bear 
patiently the open renunciation of his authority. Ex- 
communication was half perceived to be a spectre; 
but spectres had not wholly lost their terrors. With 
an excommunication pronounced in earnest might 
come interdict and stoppage of trade, perhaps war 
and rebellion at home ; and one of the members for 
London said that if the King would refer the question 
between himself and the Queen to a General Council, 
the City of London would give him two hundred thou- 
sand pounds. The arrival of Cranmer's Bulls, while 
the Act was still under discussion, moderated the 
alarm. The Pope evidently was in no warlike hu- 
mour. At the bottom of his heart he had throughout 
been in Henry's favour; he hoped probably that a 
time might come when he could say so, and that all 
this hostile legislation would then be repealed. When 
the excitement was at its hottest, and it was known at 
Rome, not only that the last brief had been defied, but 
that the King was about to marry the lady, the Pope 
had borne the news with singular calmness. After 
all, he said to the Count de Cifuentes, if the marriage 
is completed, we have only to think of a remedy. The 
remedy, Cifuentes said, was for the Pope to do jus- 
tice ; the King had been encouraged in his rash course 
by the toleration with which he had been treated and 
the constant delays. Clement answered that he would 
certainly do justice; but if the marriage was u a fact 
accomplished," he wished to know what the Emperor 
meant to do. Cifuentes told him that his Holiness 



The Act of Appeals. 211 

must do his part first, and then the Emperor would 
"act as became a powerful and wise Prince." 1 

The Pope had heard this language before. The 
Emperor was afraid of going to war with England, 
and the Pope knew it. The alternative, therefore, 
was either to make some concession to Henry or to let 
him go on as he pleased, bringing the Holy See into 
contempt by exposing its weakness: and either course 
would be equally dispiriting to the Queen and his own 
friends in England. "Everybody," wrote Chapuys, 
"cries murder on the Pope for his delays, and for not 
detaining the Archbishop's Bulls, till the definitive 
sentence had been given. He was warned of the dan- 
ger of granting them. There is not a lord in the 
Court of either side who does not say publicly his 
Holiness will betray the Emperor. The Dukes of 
Norfolk and Suffolk speak of it with more assurance, 
saying they know it well and could give good evidence 
of it." 2 

The Act of Appeals, though strongly resisted in 
the House of Commons for fear of the consequences, 
was evidently to pass; and it was now understood 
that, as soon as it became law, Cranmer was to try 
the divorce suit and to give final judgment. The 
Pope's extraordinary conduct had paralysed opposi- 
tion. The clergy, like some wild animal hardly 
broken in, were made to parade their docility and to 
approve beforehand the Archbishop's intended action. 
It was to be done in haste, for Anne was enceinte. 
The members of the Synod were allowed scant time, 
even to eat their dinners ; they were so harassed that 
no one opened his mouth to contradict, except the 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, April 21, 1533, vol. iv. p. 171. 
- Chapuys to Charles V., March 31. — Ibid. vol. vi. p. 128. 



212 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Bishop of Rochester, and Rochester had no weight, 
being alone against all the rest. So docile was the 
assembly and so imperious the King that the Queen 
and all her supporters now regarded her cause as 
lost. 1 Ortiz wrote from Rome to Charles that, 
"though he was bound to believe the contrary, he 
feared the Pope had sent, or might send, absolution 
to the King." Something might be done underhand 
to revoke the last brief, although the Pope knew what 
an evil thing it would be, and how ignominious to the 
Holy See. 2 

The reforming party in England laughed at the 
expected interdict. The Pope, they said, would not 
dare to try it, or, if he did, Christian princes would 
not trouble themselves about him. The King said, 
significantly, to the Nuncio that he was only defend- 
ing himself: "if the Pope gave him occasion to recon- 
sider the matter, he might undo what was being aimed 
at his authority." 3 

The Bill passed more rapidly through its later 
stages. The Papal jurisdiction was ended. Anyone 
who introduced Briefs of Excommunication or Inter- 
dict into the realm was declared guilty of high trea- 
son. The Bishop of Rochester, becoming violent, was 
committed to friendly custody under charge of Gardi- 
ner, now Bishop of Winchester. Appeals to the 
Pope on any matter, secular or spiritual, were forbid- 
den thenceforward, and the Act was made retrospec- 
tive, applying to suits already in progress. All was 
thus over. The Archbishop's sentence was known 
beforehand, and Anne Boleyn was to be crowned at 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., March 31. — Calendar ; Foreign and Domes- 
tic, vol. vi. p. 128. 

2 Dr. Ortiz to Charles V., April 14, 1533. — Ibid. pp. 159-fiO. 

3 Chaptiys to Charles V., March 31, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
jv. part 2, p. 626. 



The Emperor and the English Catholics. 213 

Whitsuntide. Force was now the only remedy, and 
the constitutional opposition converted itself into con- 
spiracy, to continue in that form till the end of the 
century. The King was convinced that the strength 
and energy of the country was with him. When told 
that there would be an invasion, he said that the Eng- 
lish could never be conquered as long as they held 
together. Chapuys was convinced equally that they 
would not hold together. The clergy, and a section 
of the peers with whom he chiefly associated, spoke 
all in one tone, and he supposed that the language 
which they used to him represented a universal opin- 
ion. Thenceforward he and his English friends be- 
gan to urge on the Emperor the necessity of armed 
intervention, and assured him that he had only to 
declare himself to find the whole nation at his back. 

"Englishmen, high and low," Chapuys wrote, "de- 
sire your Majesty to send an army to destroy the ven- 
omous influence of the Lady and her adherents, and 
reform the realm. Forgive my boldness, but your 
Majesty ought not to hesitate. When this accursed 
Anne has her foot in the stirrup she will do the Queen 
and the Princess all the hurt she can. She boasts 
that she will have the Princess in her own train; one 
day, perhaps, she will poison her, or will marry her 
to some varlet, while the reaim itself will be made 
over to heresy. A conquest would be perfectly easy. 
The King has no trained army. All of the higher 
ranks and all the nobles are for your Majesty, except 
the Duke of Norfolk and two or three besides. Let 
the Pope call in the secular arm, stop the trade, en- 
courage the Scots, send to sea a few ships, and the 
thing will be over. No injustice will be done, and, 
without this, England will be estranged from the Holy 
Faith and will become Lutheran. The King points 



214 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

the way and lends them wings, and the Archbishop of 
Canterbury does worse. There is no danger of French 
interference. France will wait to see the issue, and 
will give you no more trouble if this King receives his 
due. Again forgive me, but pity for the Queen and 
Princess obliges me to speak plainly." 1 

The King could hardly be ignorant of the communi- 
cations between the disaffected nobles and the Impe- 
rial Ambassador, but no outward sign appeared that 
he was aware of them. Lord Mountjoy, however, 
was sent with a guard to watch Catherine's residence, 
and, the decisive Act being passed through Parlia- 
ment, the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, with Lord 
Exeter and the Earl of Oxford, repaired to her once 
more to invite her, since she must see that further 
resistance was useless, to withdraw her appeal, and to 
tell her that, on her compliance, every arrangement 
should be made for her state and comfort, with an es- 
tablishment suited to her rank. Chapuys demanded 
an audience of the King to remonstrate, and a remark- 
able conversation ensued. The Ambassador said he 
had heard of the proceedings in Convocation and in 
Parliament. It was his duty to speak. If the King 
had no regard for men whom he despised, he hoped 
that he would have respect to God. "God and his 
conscience," Henry answered calmly, "were on per- 
fectly good terms." Chapuys expressed a doubt, and 
the King assured him that he was entirely sincere. 
Chapuys said he could not believe that at a time 
when Europe was distracted with heresies the King of 
England would set so evil an example. The King- 
rejoined that, if the world found his new marriage 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 10, 1533. Compressed. — Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. vi. pp. 149-51. Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. ()30. 



Chapuys and the King. 215 

strange, he himself found it more strange that Pope 
Julius should have granted a dispensation for his mar- 
riage with his brother's wife. He must have an heir 
to succeed him in his realm. The Emperor had no 
right to prevent him. The Ambassador spoke of the 
Princess. To provide a husband for the Princess 
would be the fittest means to secure the succession. 
Henry said he would have children of his own, and 
Chapuys ventured on more dangerous ground than he 
was aware of by hinting that he could not be sure of 
that. "Am I not a man," the King said sharply, 
"am I not a man like others? Am I not a man?" 
Thrice repeating the words. "But," he added, "I 
will not let you into my secrets." The Ambassador 
enquired whether he intended to remain on friendly 
terms with the Emperor. The King asked him with 
a frown what he meant by that. On his replying 
that the Emperor's friendship depended on the treat- 
ment of the Queen, the King said coldly that the 
Emperor had no right to interfere with the laws and 
constitution of England. 

Chapuys persisted. 

The Emperor, he said, did not wish to meddle with 
his laws, unless they personally affected the Queen. 
The King wanted to force her to abandon her ap- 
peal, and it was not to be expected that she would 
submit to statutes which had been carried by compul- 
sion. 

The King grew impatient. The statutes, he said, 
had been passed in Parliament, and the Queen as a 
subject must obey them. 

The Ambassador retorted that new laws could not 
be retrospective; and, as to the Queen being a sub- 
ject, if she was his wife she was his subject; if she 
was not his wife, she was not his subject. 



216 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

This was true, and Henry was to be made to feel 
the dilemma. He contented himself, however, with 
saying that she must have patience, and obey the laws 
of the realm. The Emperor had injured him by hin- 
dering his marriage and preventing him from having 
male succession. The Queen was no more his wife 
than she was Chapuys 's. He would do as he pleased, 
and if the Emperor made war on him he would 
fight. 

Chapuys inquired whether, if an interdict was is- 
sued, and the Spaniards and Flemings resident in 
England obeyed it, his statutes would apply to them. 

The King did not answer ; but, turning to someone 
present, he said: "You have heard the Ambassador 
hint at excommunication. It is not I that am ex- 
communicated, but the Emperor, who has kept me so 
long in mortal sin. That is an excommunication 
which the Pope cannot take off." 1 

To the lords who carried the message to Catherine 
she replied as she had always done — that Queen she 
was, and she would never call herself by any other 
name. As to her establishment, she wanted nothing 
but a confessor, a doctor, and a couple of maids. If 
that was too much, she would go about the world and 
beg alms for the love of God. 

u The King," Chapuys said, "was naturally kind 
and generous," but the "Lady Anne had so perverted 
him that he did not seem the same man." Unless the 
Emperor acted in earnest, she would make an end of 
Catherine, as she had done of Wolsey, whom she did 
not hate with half as much intensity. "All seems like 
a dream," he said. "Her own party do not know 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 10, 1533. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. vi. p. 103, etc., abridged. Also Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iv. part 2, p. 035. 



Chapuys and the King. 217 

whether to laugh or cry at it. Every clay people ask 
me when I am going away. As long as I remain here 
it will be always thought your Majesty has consented 
to the marriage." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The King's claim — The obstinacy of Catherine — The Court at Dun- 
stable — Judgment given by Cranmer — Debate in the Spanish 
Council of State — Objections to armed interference — The English 
opposition — Warning given to Chapuys — Chapuys and the Privy 
Council — Conversation with Cromwell — Coronation of Anne Bo- 
leyn — Discussions at Rome — Bull supra Attentatis — Confusion of 
the Catholic Powers — Libels against Henry — Personal history of 
Cromwell — Birth of Elizabeth — The King's disappointment — 
Bishop Fisher desires the introduction of a Spanish army into Eng- 
land — Growth of Lutheranism. 

If circumstances can be imagined to justify the use 
of the dispensing* power claimed and exercised by the 
Papacy, Henry VIII. had been entitled to demand as- 
sistance from Clement VII. in the situation in which 
he had found himself with Catherine of Aragon. He 
had been committed when little more than a boy, for 
political reasons, to a marriage of dubious legality. 
In the prime of his life he found himself fastened to 
a woman eight years older than himself ; the children 
whom she had borne to him all dead, except one 
daughter; his wife past the age when she could hope 
to be again a mother; the kingdom with the* certainty 
of civil war before it should the King die without a 
male heir. In hereditary monarchies, where the sov- 
ereign is the centre of the State, the interests of the 
nation have to be considered in the arrangements of 
his family. Henry had been married irregularly to 
Catherine to strengthen the alliance between England 



Position of Queen Catherine. 219 

and Spain. When, as a result, a disputed succession 
and a renewal of the civil wars was seen to be inevita- 
ble, the King had a distinct right to ask to be relieved 
of the connection by the same irregular methods. 
The causa urgentissima, for which the dispensing 
power was allowed, was present in the highest de- 
gree, and that power ought to have been made use of. 
That it was not made use of was due to a control ex- 
erted upon the Pope by the Emperor, whose pride had 
been offended; and that such an influence could be 
employed for such a purpose vitiated the tribunal 
which had been trusted with a peculiar and excep- 
tional authority. The Pope had not concealed his 
conviction that the demand was legitimate in itself, or 
that, in refusing, he was yielding to intimidation, and 
the inevitable consequences had followed. Royal per- 
sons who receive from birth and station remarkable 
favours of fortune occasionally have to submit to in- 
conveniences attaching to their rank; and, when the 
occasion rises, they generally meet with little cere- 
mony. At the outset the utmost efforts had been 
made to spare Catherine's feelings. Both the King 
and the Pope desired to avoid a judgment on the valid- 
ity of her marriage. An heir to the crown was 
needed, and from her there was no hope of further 
issue. If at the beginning she had been found inca- 
pable of bearing a child, the marriage would have been 
dissolved of itself. Essentially the condition was the 
same. Technical difficulties could be disposed of by 
a Papal dispensation. She would have remained 
queen, her honour unaffected, the legitimacy of Mary 
unimpugned, the relations between the Holy See and 
the Crown and Church of England undisturbed. The 
obstinacy of Catherine herself, the Emperor's deter- 
mination to support her, and the Pope's cowardice, 



220 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

prevented a reasonable arrangement; and thus the 
right of the Pope himself to the spiritual sovereignty 
of Europe came necessarily under question, when it 
implied the subjugation of independent princes to 
another power by which the Court of Rome was dom- 
inated. 

Such a question once raised could have but one an- 
swer from the English nation. Every resource had 
been tried to the extreme limit of forbearance, and all 
had failed before the indomitable will of a single 
woman. A request admitted to be just had been met 
by excommunication and threats of force. With en- 
tire fitness, the King and Parliament had replied by 
withdrawing their recognition of a corrupt tribunal, 
and determining thenceforward to try and to judge 
their own suits in their own courts. 

Thus, on the 10th of May, Cranmer, with three 
Bishops as assessors, sate at Dunstable under the Royal 
licence to hear the cause which had so long been the 
talk of Europe, and Catherine, who was at Ampthill, 
was cited to appear. She consulted Chapuys on the 
answer which she was to make. Chapuys advised her 
not to notice the summons. "Nothing done by such 
a Court could prejudice her," he said, "unless she 
renounced her appeal to Rome." As she made no 
plea, judgment was promptly given. 1 The divorce 
was complete so far as English law could decide it, 
and it was doubtful to the last whether the Pope was 
not at heart a consenting party. The sentence had 
been, of course, anticipated. On the 27th of April 
Chapuys informed the Emperor how matters then 
stood. 

" Had his Holiness done as he was advised, and in- 

1 I have related elsewhere the story of the Dunstable trial, and do 
not repeat it. — History of England, vol. i. pp. 417-423. 



Judgment given by Cranmer. 221 

serted a clause in the Archbishop's Bulls forbidding 
the Archbishop to meddle in the case, he would have 
prevented much mischief. He chose to take his own 
way, and thus the English repeat what they have said 
all along: that in the end the Pope would deceive 
your Majesty. . . . The thing now to be done is to 
force from the Pope a quick and sudden decision of 
the case, so as to silence those who affirm that he is 
only procrastinating till he can decide in favour of the 
King, or who think that your Majesty will then ac- 
quiesce and that there will be no danger of war. . . . 
I have often tried to ascertain from the Queen what 
alternative she is looking to, seeing that gentleness 
produces no effect. I have found her hitherto so 
scrupulous in her profession of respect and affection 
for the King that she thinks she will be damned eter- 
nally if she takes a step which may lead to war. 
Latterly, however, she has let me know that she 
would like to see some other remedy tried, though she 
refers everything to me." 1 

The proceedings at Dunstable may have added to 
Catherine's growing willingness for the "other rem- 
edy." She was no longer an English subject in the 
eye of the law, and might hold herself free to act as 
she pleased. Simultaneously, however, a consultation 
was going forward about her and her affairs in the 
Spanish Cabinet which was not promising for Cha- 
puys's views. The Spanish Ambassador in London, 
it was said, was urging for war with England. The 
history of the divorce case was briefly stated. The 
delay of judgment had been caused by the King's 
protest that he coulc^ not appear at Rome. That 
point had been decided against the King. The Pope 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 27, 1533. Abridged. — Spanish Cal- 
endar, vol. iv. part 2, p. 648. 



222 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

had promised the Emperor that he would proceed at 
once to sentence, but had not done it. Brief on brief 
had been presented to the King, ordering him to sep- 
arate from Anne Boleyn pendente lite, but the King 
had paid no attention to them — had married the Lady 
and divorced the Queen. The Emperor was the 
Queen's nearest relation. What was he to do? 
There were three expedients before him: legal pro- 
cess, force, and law and force combined. The first 
was the best ; but the King and the realm would refuse 
the tribunal, and the Pope always had been, and still 
was, very cold and indifferent in the matter, and 
most tolerant to the English King. Open force, in 
the existing state of Christendom, was dangerous. 
To begin an aggression was always a questionable 
step. Although the King had married "Anne de 
Bulans," he had used no violence against the Queen, 
or done anything to justify an armed attack upon him. 
The question was "a private one," and the Emperor 
must consider what he owed to the public welfare. 
Should the third course be adopted, the Pope would 
have to pronounce judgment and call in the secular 
arm. All Christian princes would then be bound to 
help him, and the Emperor, as the first among them, 
would have to place himself at the head of the enter- 
prise. "But would it not be better and more conven- 
ient to avoid, for the present, harsh measures, which 
might bring on war and injure trade, and insist only 
on further censures and a sentence of deposition 
against the King? Should the Pope require to know 
beforehand what the Emperor would do to enforce the 
execution, it would be enough to tell the Pope that he 
must do his part first ; any further engagement would 
imply that the sentence on the principal cause had 
been decided beforehand. Finally, it would have to 



Debate hi the Spanish Council. 223 

be determined whether the Queen was to remain in 
England or to leave it." 

These were the questions before the Cabinet. A 
Privy Councillor, perhaps Granvelle (the name is not 
mentioned), gave his own opinion, which was seem- 
ingly adopted. 

All these ways were to be tried. The Pope must 
proceed with the suit. Force must be suspended for 
the present, the cause being a personal one, and hav- 
ing already begun when peace teas made at Cambray. 
The Pope must conclude the principal matter, or at 
least insist on the revocation of what had been done 
since the suit commenced, and then, perhaps, force 
would not be required at all. The advice of the Con- 
sulta on the answer to be given to the Pope, should 
he require to know the Emperor's intentions, was 
exactly right. Nothing more need be said than that 
the Emperor would not forget the obligations which 
devolved on him, as an obedient son of the Church. 
The Queen, meanwhile, must remain in England. 
If she came away, a rupture would be inevitable. 

The speaker advised further that a special embassy 
should be sent to England to remonstrate with the 
King. 

This, however, if unsuccessful, it was felt would 
lead to war; and opposite to the words the Emperor 
himself wrote on the margin an emphatic No. 1 

The mention of the peace of Cambray is important. 
The divorce had reached an acute stage before the 
peace was concluded. It had not been spoken of 
there, and the Emperor was diplomatically pre- 
cluded from producing it as a fresh injury. Both he 
and the Council were evidently unwilling to act. The 
Pope knew their reluctance, and did not mean, if he 

1 Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 2, pp. 650-658, 



224 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

could help it, to flourish his spiritual weapons without 
a sword to support them. 

The King wrote to inform Charles of his marriage. 
"In the face of the Scotch pretensions to the succes- 
sion," he said, "other heirs of his body were required 
for the security of the Crown. The thing was done, 
and the Pope must make the best of it." This was 
precisely what the Pope was inclined to do. Cifu- 
entes thought that, though he seemed troubled, "he 
was really pleased." 1 "He said positively that, if he 
was to declare the King of England deprived of his 
crown, the Emperor must bind himself to see the sen- 
tence executed." 2 Charles had no intention of bind- 
ing himself, nor would his Cabinet advise him to bind 
himself. The time was passed when Most Catholic 
Princes could put armies in motion to execute the 
decrees of the Bishop of Rome. The theory might 
linger, but the facts were changed. Philip II. tried 
the experiment half a century later, but it did not 
answer to him. A fresh order of things had risen in 
Europe, and passionate Catholics could not understand 
it. Dr. Ortiz shrieked that "the King, by his mar- 
riage, was guilty of heresy and schism; " the Emperor 
ought to use the opportunity, without waiting for 
further declarations from the Pope, and unsheath the 
sword which God had placed in his hands. 3 English 
Peers and Prelates, impatient of the rising strength of 
the Commons and of the growth of Lutheranism, be- 
sieged Chapuys with entreaties for an Imperial force 
to be landed. They told him that Richard III. was 

1 The Count de Cifuentes to Charles V., May 7, 1533. — Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. vi. pp. 203-4. 

2 Ibid., May 10. 

3 Ortiz to Charles V., May 3, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 
2, p. 659. 



TJie English Opposition. 225 

not so hated by the people as Henry; but that, with- 
out help from abroad, they dared not declare them- 
selves. 1 Why could they not dare? The King had 
no janissaries about his throne. Why could they not 
stand up in the House of Lords and refuse to sanction 
the measures which they disapproved? Why, except 
that they were not the people. Numbers might still 
be on their side, but the daring, the intellect, the 
fighting-strength of England was against them, and 
the fresh air of dawning freedom chilled their blood. 
The modern creed is that majorities have a right to 
ride. If, out of every hundred men, four-fifths will 
vote on one side, but will not fight without help from 
the sword of the stranger; and the remaining fifth 
will both vote and fight — fight domestic cowards and 
foreign foes combined — which has the right to rule ? 
The theory may be imperfect ; but it is easy to fore- 
see which will rule in fact. The marriage with Anne 
was formally communicated in the House of Lords. 
There were some murmurs. The King rose from the 
throne and said it had been necessary for the welfare 
of the realm. Peers and Commons acquiesced, and 
no more was said. The coronation of the new Queen 
was fixed for the 19th of May. 

If the great men who had been so eager with Cha- 
puys were poltroons, Chapuys himself was none. 
Rumours were flying that the Emperor was coming to 
waste England, destroy the Royal family, and place a 
foreign Prince on the throne. The Ambassador ad- 
dressed a letter to Henry, saying that he held powers 
to take action for the preservation of the Queen's 
rights; and he gave him notice that he intended to 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 18, 1533. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. vi. pp. 225-6. 



226 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

enter immediately on the duties of his office. 1 Henry- 
showed no displeasure at so bold a communication, hut 
sent Thomas Cromwell to him, who was now fast ris- 
ing- into consequence, to remind him that, large as was 
the latitude allowed to Ambassadors, he must not vio- 
late the rights of the Crown, and to warn him to be 
careful. He was then summoned before the Privy 
Council. Norfolk had previously cautioned him 
against introducing briefs or letters from the Pope, 
telling him that if he did he would be torn in pieces 
by the people. The Council demanded to see the 
powers which he said that he possessed. He produced 
directions which he had received to watch over the 
Queen's rights, and he then remarked on the several 
briefs by which the King was virtually excommuni- 
cated. Lord Wiltshire told him that if any subject 
had so acted he would have found himself in the 
Tower. The King wished him well; but if he wore 
two faces, and meddled with what did not concern 
him, he might fall into trouble. 

Chapuys replied that the Council were like the eels 
of Melun, which cried out before they were skinned. 
He had done nothing, so far. He had not presented 
any "Apostolic letters." As to two faces, the Earl 
meant, he supposed, that he was about to act as the 
Queen's Proctor as well as Ambassador; he was not 
a lawyer; he had no such ambition. Then, speaking 
in Latin, because part of the Council did not under- 
stand French, he dwelt on the old friendship between 
the Emperor and the King. He said that the part 
which the Emperor had taken about the divorce was 
as much for the sake of the King and the realm as for 
the sake of the Queen, although the Queen and Prin- 

1 Chapuys to Henry VIII., May 5, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. 668. 



Chapuys and the Council. 227 

cess were as a mother and a sister to him. He went 
through the case ; he said their statutes were void in 
themselves, and, even if valid, could not be retrospec- 
tive. The Archbishop had been just sworn to the 
Pope. He had broken his oath, and was under ex- 
communication, 1 and was, therefore, disqualified to 
act. He reminded the Council of the Wars of the 
Roses, and told them they were sharpening the thorns 
for fresh struggles. 

Doctor Foxe (the King's Almoner, afterwards 
bishop) replied that the King could not live with his 
brother's wife without sin, and therefore left her. 
It was a fact accomplished, and no longer to be ar- 
gued. To challenge the action of the Archbishop 
was to challenge the law of the land, and was not to 
be allowed. The Pope had no authority in England, 
spiritual or temporal. The introduction of bulls or 
briefs from Rome was unlawful, and could not be 
sheltered behind immunities of ambassadors. Cha- 
puys was the representative of the Emperor, not of the 
Pope, and Foxe cautioned him against creating dis- 
turbances in the realm. 

To this Chapuys quietly answered that he would do 
his duty, let the consequences be what they might. 
Being again warned, he said he would wait for two or 
three days, within which he looked for a satisfactory 
reply from the King. 

In leaving the council-room, he said, in imperious 
fashion, as if he was addressing a set of criminals, 
that reports were current about the Emperor which he 
desired to notice. Some declared that he had con- 
sented to the marriage with the Lady Anne. Others 
that he meant to make war. Both allegations alike 

1 Cranmer had sworn the usual oath, hut with a reservation that his 
first duty was to his Sovereign and the laws of his country. 



228 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

were false and malicious. So far from wishing to in- 
jure England, the Emperor wished to help and sup- 
port it, and could not believe that he would ever be 
obliged to act otherwise ; and as to consenting to the 
divorce, if the Pope declared for it he would submit to 
the Pope's judgment; otherwise the world would not 
turn him from the path which he meant to follow. 
He was acting as the King's best friend, as the King 
would acknowledge if he could forget his passion for 
the Lady and consider seriously his relations with the 
Emperor. He begged the Council, therefore, to pre- 
vent such rumours from being circulated if they did 
not wish Chapuys to contradict them himself. 

The Ambassador was keeping within the truth when 
he said that Charles was not meditating war. Cha- 
puys's instructions when first sent to England had 
been not to make matters worse than they were, not 
to threaten war, nor to imply in any way that there 
was danger of war. 1 He had himself, however, in- 
sisted that there was no alternative. He had encour- 
aged Catherine's friends with hope of eventual help, 
and continued to convey to the Emperor their passion- 
ate wish that "his Majesty's hand would soon reach 
England, "before "the accursed woman "made an end 
of the Queen and of them — to tell him that, were his 
forces once on land, they might raise as many men as 
they pleased, and the London citizens would stand by, 
"keep the enlistment money," and wait to see which 
party won. As long, however, as his master was un- 
decided he would not, he said, take measures which 
would do no good, and only lead to inconvenience. 
He had merely given the Council "a piece of his 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 26, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. 687. 



Chapuys and Cromwell. 229 

mind," and had said what no one else would say, for 
fear of Lady Anne. 

The answer to his letter which he expected from the 
King did not arrive, but instead of it an invitation to 
dinner from the Duke of Norfolk, which he refused 
lest his consent should be misconstrued. Ultimately, 
however, Cromwell came to him with the King's per- 
mission. Cromwell, strange to say, had been a strong 
advocate for the Imperial alliance, in opposition to 
the French, and with Cromwell the Ambassador's re- 
lations were more easy than with the Duke. Their 
conversations were intimate and confidential. Cha- 
puys professed a hope that the King's affection for 
the Lady would pass off, and promised, for himself, 
to pour no more oil on the fire till he received fresh 
orclers. If they wished for peace, however, he said 
they must be careful of their behaviour to the Queen, 
and he complained of the removal of her arms from 
her barge in the river. Such petty acts of persecu- 
tion ousrht to be avoided. The removal of the arms 
was the work of some too zealous friend of Anne. 
Cromwell had not heard of it, and said that the King 
would be greatly displeased. Meanwhile he trusted 
that Spanish notions of honour would not interfere 
with a friendship so useful to both countries. If it 
came to war, England would not be found an easy con- 
quest. He defended the King's action. The Pope 
would not do him justice, so he had slapped the Pope 
in the face. No doubt he had been influenced by 
love for the Lady. Neither the King himself, nor 
all the Preachers in the world, would convince him 
that love had nothing to do with it. But the King 
was well read in the canon law, and if his conscience 
was satisfied it was enough. 

As Cromwell was so frank, Chapuys asked him 



230 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

when and where the marriage with Anne had been 
concluded. Cromwell either would not or could not 
tell him, saying merely that Norfolk had not been 
present at the ceremony, but others of the Council 
had, and there was no doubt that it had really taken 
place. 

So matters stood in England, every one waiting to 
learn how the Emperor would act. Anne Boleyn was 
duly crowned at Whitsuntide — a splendid official 
pageant compensating for the secrecy of her marriage. 
The streets were thronged with curious spectators, but 
there was no enthusiasm. The procession was like a 
funeral. The Pope was about to meet the King of 
France at Nice. Norfolk was commissioned to attend 
the interview, and, as Henry still hoped that the Duke 
would bring back an acquiescence in his wishes from 
Clement, Chapuys saw him before his departure. The 
Duke said the peace of the world now depended on the 
Emperor. He repeated that his niece's marriage had 
been no work of his. Her father and he had always 
been against it, and, but for them, it would have hap- 
pened a year before. She had been furious with both 
of them. She was now enceinte, and had told her 
father and himself and Suffolk that she was in better 
plight than they wished her to be. To attempt to 
persuade the King to take Catherine back either by 
threat or argument would be labour thrown away, 
such "were his scruples of conscience and his despair 
of having male succession by her." 

At Cromwell's intercession, the Bishop of Roches- 
ter was now released from confinement, and politics 
were quiet, till the effect was seen of the Nice con- 
ference. Anxious consultations were held at Rome 
before the Pope set out. The Cardinals met in con- 
sistory. Henry's belief had been that Francis was 



France and the Papacy. 231 

prepared to stand by him to the uttermost, and would 
carry Clement with him. He was now to find, either 
that he had been misled or had wilfully deceived him- 
self. Cardinal Tournon, who was supposed to have 
carried an ultimatum from the meeting at Calais, had 
required the Pope to suspend the process against 
Henry : 1 if the Pope replied that the offence was too 
great, and that he must deprive him, Francis did not 
say that he would risk excommunication himself by 
taking an open part, but had directed the Cardinal to 
urge the removal of the suit to a neutral place, as had 
been often proposed. The Pope told the Count de 
Cifuentes that this suggestion had been already dis- 
cussed with the Emperor, and that the Emperor had 
not entirely disapproved ; 2 but the cunning and treach- 
erous Clement had formed a plan of his own by which 
he thought he could save England and punish Henry. 
Francis being less firm than he had feared, he thought 
that, by working on French ambition, he coidd detach 
Francis completely from his English ally. The French 
were known to be eager to recover Calais. What if 
Calais could be offered them as a bait? They might 
turn their coats as they had so often done before. 3 
Cunning and weakness generally go together. It was 
an ingenious proposal, and throws a new light on 
Clement's character. Nothing came of it, for the 
Emperor, with a view to the safety of Flanders and 
the eventual recovery of the English alliance, declined 
to sanction a change of ownership on his own frontier. 
Finding no encouragement, Clement relapsed into his 
usual attitude. The Imperialists continued to press 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 29, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. C>99. 

2 Cifuentes to Charles V., May 29, 1533. — Ibid. p. 702. 

3 The Cardinal of Jaen to Charles V., June 16, 1533. — Spanish Cal- 
endar, vol. iv. part 2, p. 709. 



232 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

for the delivery of sentence before the Pope should 
leave Rome. The Pope continued to insist on know- 
ing the Emperor's intentions. 

A Spanish lawyer, Rodrigo Davalos, had been sent 
to Rome to dissuade the Pope from the Nice interview, 
and to quicken the action of the Rota. 

"Queen Catherine's suit," he said, "had been car- 
ried on as if it were that of the poorest woman in the 
world. Since Cifuentes and he had been there the 
process had been pushed on, but the Advocates and 
Proctors had not received a real. Their hands re- 
quired anointing to make them stick to their business. 
The Cardinals were at sixes and sevens, and refused 
to pull together, do what Davalos would." 1 

Davalos, being a skilful manipulator and going the 
right way to work, pressed the process forward in the 
Rota without telling the Pope what he was doing, 
since Clement would have stopped it had he not been 
kept in ignorance. But, "God helping, no excuse was 
left." The forms were all concluded, and nothing 
remained but to pass the long-talked-of sentence. 
The Pope was so "importuned" by the French and 
English Ambassadors to suspend it till after the meet- 
ing at Nice that Davalos could not say whether he 
would get it, after all; but he told the Pope that 
further hesitation would be regarded by the Emperor 
as an outrage, and would raise suspicion through the 
whole world. The Pope promised, but where good- 
will was wanting trifles were obstacles. Davalos con- 
fessed that he had no faith in his promise. He feared 
the Pope must have issued some secret brief, which 
stood in his way. 2 

1 Davalos to Charles V., June 30 and July 5, 1533. — Spanish Cal- 
endar, vol. iv. part 2, pp. 725-728. 

2 Ibid. 



The Brief super Attentatis. 233 

Clement, however, was driven on in spite of him- 
self. Judgment on the principal cause could not be 
wrung from him. Cardinal Salviati was of opinion 
that they would never give it till the Emperor would 
promise that it should be executed. 1 But a Brief super 
Attentatis, which was said to be an equivalent, Clem- 
ent was required to sign, and did sign — a Bull on 
which Charles could act if occasion served, the Pope 
himself swearing great oaths that Henry had used him 
ill, and that he would bribe Francis to forsake him 
by the promise of Calais. 2 

One more touch must be added to complete the 
comedy of distraction. A proposal of the Spanish 
Council to send a special embassy to London to re- 
monstrate with the King had been definitely rejected 
by the Emperor. It was revived by Chapuys, with 
whom it had probably originated. He imagined that 
the most distinguished representatives of the Spanish 
nation might appear at the English Court and protest 
against the ill-usage of the daughter of Ferdinand and 
Isabella. If the King refused them satisfaction, they 
might demand to be heard in Parliament. The King 
would then be placed in the wrong before his own 
people. The nobles of Aragon and Castile would 
offer their persons and their property to maintain the 
Queen's right; and Chapuys said, "Not a Spaniard 
would hesitate if they were privately assured first that 
they would not he taken at their word." 8 

Leaving the Catholic Powers in confusion and un- 
certainty, we return to England. Catherine had re- 
jected every proposal which had been made to her. 

1 Davalos to Charles V., June 30 and July 5, 1533. — Spanish Calen- 
dar, vol. iv. part 2, p. 749. 

2 Ibid. p. 734. 

3 Chapuys to Charles V., June 28, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, pp. 718-20. 



234 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

There could not be two queens in the same country, 
and, after Anne's coronation, a deputation waited 
upon her to intimate that her style must be changed. 
She must now consent to be termed Princess Dowager, 
when an establishment would be provided for her as 
the widow of the King's brother. Her magnificent 
refusal is well known to history. Cromwell spoke 
with unbounded admiration of it. Yet it was incon- 
venient, and increased the difficulty of providing for 
her, since she declined to accept any grants which 
might be made to her under the new title, or to be at- 
tended by any person who did not treat her and ad- 
dress her as queen. It would have been better if she 
had required to be allowed to return to Castile; but 
both the Spanish Council and the Emperor had de- 
cided that she must remain in England. The Prin- 
cess had been allowed to rejoin her. The mother and 
daughter had made short expeditions together, and 
had been received *with so much enthusiasm that it 
was found necessary again to part them. Stories 
were current of insulting messages which Catherine 
had received from the Lady Anne, false probably, 
and meant only to create exasperation. The popular 
feeling was warmly in her favour. She was person- 
ally liked as much as Anne was hated; and the King 
himself was not spared. As a specimen of the licence 
of language, "a Mrs. Amadas, witch and prophetess, 
was indicted for having said that ' the Lady Anne 
should be burned, for she was a harlot. Master Nor- 
ris (Sir Henry Norris, Equerry to Henry) was bawd 
between her and the King. The King had kept both 
the mother and the daughter, and Lord Wiltshire was 
bawd to his wife and to his two daughters. ' " 1 In July 
the news arrived from Rome of the Brief de Atten- 
1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. vi. p. 399. 



The Meeting at Nice. 235 

tatis, and with it the unpleasant intelligence that 
Francis could not be depended on, and that the hopes 
expected from the meeting at Nice would not be real- 
ised. The disappointment was concealed from Anne, 
for fear of endangering the expected child. Norfolk, 
who had waited in Paris to proceed in the French 
King's train, was ordered to return to England. 
Henry was not afraid, but he was discovering that he 
had nothing to rely upon but himself and the nation. 
The terms on which France and the Empire stood 
towards each other were so critical that he did not 
expect the Emperor to quarrel with England if he 
could help it. Chapuys seemed studiously to seek 
Cromwell. Of Cromwell's fidelity to himself Henry 
was too well* assured to feel uneasy about their inti- 
macy, and therefore they met often and as freely ex- 
changed their thoughts. Chapuys found Cromwell "a 
man of sense, well versed in affairs of State, and able 
to judge soundly," with not too good an opinion of 
the Lady Anne, who returned his dislike. Anne was 
French ; Cromwell was Imperialist beyond all the rest 
of the Council. 

"I told him," wrote the Ambassador to Charles, 
after one of these conversations, "I often regretted 
your Majesty had not known him in Wolsey's time. 
He would have been a greater man than the Cardinal, 
and the King's affairs would have gone much better. 
He seemed pleased, so I continued. Now was the 
time for him to do his master better service than ever 
man did before. Sentence had been given in Rome 
against the King, and there was no further hope that 
your Majesty and the Pope would agree to the di- 
vorce. I presumed that the King being so reasona- 
ble, virtuous, and humane a prince, would not persist 
longer and blemish the many gifts which God had 



236 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

bestowed on him. I prayed him to move the King. 
He could do more with him than any other man. 
He was not in the Council when the accursed business 
was first mooted. The Queen trusted him, and, when 
reinstated, would not forget his service. Cromwell 
took what I said in good part. He assured me that 
all the Council desired your Majesty's friendship. 
He would do his best, and hoped that things would 
turn out well. If I can believe what he says there is 
still a hope that the King may change. I will set the 
net again and try if I can catch him ; but one cannot 
be too cautious. The King is disturbed by what has 
passed at Rome. He fears the Pope will seduce the 
French King from him." 1 

"Who was this Cromwell that had grown to such 
importance?" Granvelle had asked. "He is the 
son," replied Chapuys, "of a farrier in Chelsea, who 
is buried in the parish church there. His uncle, father 
of Richard Cromwell, was cook to the Archbishop of 
Canterbury. This Thomas Cromwell was wild in his 
youth, and had to leave the country. He went to 
Flanders and to Rome. Returning thence he married 
the daughter of a wool merchant, and worked at his 
father-in-law's business. After that he became a 
solicitor. Wolsey, finding him diligent and a man 
of ability for good or ill, took him into service and 
employed him in the suppression of religious houses. 
When Wolsey fell he behaved extremely well. The 
King took him into his secret Council. Now he is 
above everyone, except the Lady, and is supposed to 
have more credit than ever the Cardinal had. He is 
hospitable and liberal, speaks English well, aud 
Latin, French, and Italian tolerably." 2 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Aug. 3, 1533. — Spa nish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, pp. 759-60. 

2 Chapuys to Granvelle, Nov. 21, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. 9, p. 289. 



Thomas Cromwell. 237 

The intimacy increased. Cromwell, though Im- 
perial in politics and no admirer of Anne Boleyn, was 
notoriously Henry's chief adviser in the reform of the 
clergy; but to this aspect of him Chapuys had no 
objection. Neither the Ambassador nor Charles, nor 
any secular statesman in Europe, was blind to the 
enormities of Churchmen or disposed to lift a finger 
for them, if reform did not take the shape of Luther- 
anism. Charles himself had said that, if Henry had 
no objects beyond the correction of the spiritualty, 
he would rather aid than obstruct him. Between 
Chapuys and Cromwell there was thus common 
ground; and Cromwell's hint that the King might 
perhaps reconsider his position may not have been 
wholly groundless. 

The action of the Rota, pressed through by Davalos, 
had taken Henry by surprise. He had not expected 
that the Pope would give a distinct judgment against 
him. He had been equally disappointed in the sup- 
port which he expected from Francis. That he 
should now hesitate for an instant was natural and 
inevitable ; but the irresolution, if real, did not last. 
Norfolk wrote to the King from Paris "to care no- 
thing for the Pope: " there were men "enough at his 
side in England to defend his right with the sword." 1 
Henry appealed to a General Council, when a Coun- 
cil could be held which should be more than a Papal 
delegacy. The revenues of the English sees which 
were occupied by Campeggio and Ghinucci he seques- 
trated, as a sign of the abandonment of a detestable 
system. 

His own mind, meanwhile, was fastened on the ap- 
proaching confinement of Anne. With the birth of 

1 Chapuys to Charles V.. Aug. 23, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. 777. 



238 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

a male heir to the Crown he knew that his difficulties 
would vanish. Nurses and doctors had assured him 
of a son, and the event was expected both by him and 
by others with passionate expectation. A Prince of 
Wales would quiet the national uncertainty. It would 
be the answer of Heaven to Pope and Emperor, and 
a Divine sanction of his revolt. There is danger in 
interpreting Providence before the event. If the an- 
ticipation is disappointed the weight of the sentence 
may be thrown into the opposing scale. 

To the bitter "mortification of the King and the 
Lady, to the reproach of physicians, astrologers, sor- 
cerers, and sorceresses who affirmed that the child 
would be a male," 1 to the delight of Chapuys and the 
perplexity of a large section of the English people 
who were waiting for Providence to speak, on the 7th 
of September the girl who was afterwards to be Queen 
Elizabeth was brought into the world. 

This was the worst blow which Henry had received. 
He was less given to superstition than most of his 
subjects, but there had been too much of appeals to 
Heaven through the whole of the controversy. The 
need of a male heir had been paraded before Christen- 
dom as the ground of his action. He had already dis- 
covered that Anne was not what his blindness to her 
faults had allowed him to believe ; he was fond of the 
Princess Mary, and Anne had threatened to make a 
waiting-maid of her. The new Queen had made her- 
self detested in the Court by her insolence ; there had 
been "lover's quarrels," 2 from which Catherine's 
friends had gathered hopes, and much must have passed 
behind the scenes of which no record survives. A lady 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Sept. 10, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. 789. 

2 Ibid. p. 788. 



Birth of Elizabeth. 239 

of the bed-chamber had heard Henry say he would 
"rather beg - from door to door than forsake her;" 1 on 
the other hand, Anne acknowledged afterwards that 
his love had not been returned, and she could hardly 
have failed to let him see it. Could she be the 
mother of a prince she was safe, but on this she might 
well think her security depended. All Henry's male 
children, except the Duke of Richmond, had died at 
the birth or in infancy ; and words which she let fall 
to her sister-in-law, Lady Rochford, implied a suspi- 
cion that the fault was in the King - . 2 It is not with- 
out significance that in the subsequent indictment of 
Sir Henry Norris it was alleged that on the 6th of 
October, 1533, less than a month after Anne's con- 
finement, she solicited Norris to have criminal inter- 
course with her, and that on the 12th the act was com- 
mitted. But to this subject I shall return hereafter. 
Anyway, the King made the best of his misfortune. 
If the first adventure had failed, a second might be 
more successful. The unwelcome daughter was chris- 
tened amidst general indifference, without either bon- 
fires or rejoicings. She was proclaimed Princess, and 
the title was taken away from her sister Mary. Cha- 
puys, after what Cromwell had said to him, trusted 
naturally that the King's mind would be affected by 
his disappointment. They met again. Chapuys 
urged that it would be easier to set things straight 
than at an earlier stage. The King, being of a proud 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Nov. 3, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. 842. 

2 The King's infirmities were not a secret. In 1533, upon Elizabeth's 
birth, a Senor de Gambaro, who was an intimate friend of the Duke of 
Norfolk, wrote at Rome for Cifuentes a curious account of the situation 
and prospects of things in England. Among other observations he says: 
"The [expected] child will be weak, owing to his father's condition " 
Avisos de las Cosas de Inglaterra dados por Sr. de Gambaro en Roma. 
— Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. vi. p. (iS3. 



240 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

temper, would have felt humiliated if he had been 
baffled. He might now listen to reason. It was 
said of Englishmen that when they had made a mis- 
take they were more ready to confess it than other 
people ; and, so far from losing in public esteem, he 
would only gain, if he now admitted that he had been 
wrong. The Emperor would send an embassy re- 
questing him affectionately to take Catherine back; 
his compliance would thus lose all appearance of com- 
pulsion. The expectation was reasonable. Crom- 
well, however, had to tell him in earnest language 
that it could not be ; and the Catholic party in Eng- 
land, who had hoped as Chapuys hoped, and found 
themselves only further embittered by the exclusion 
of Mary from the succession, became desperate in turn. 
From this period their incipient treason developed into 
definite conspiracy, the leader among the disaffected 
and the most influential from his reputed piety and 
learning being Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, whose 
subsequent punishment has been the text for so many 
eloquent invectives. Writing on the 27th of Sep- 
tember to the Emperor, Chapuys says: "The good 
Bishop of Rochester has sent to me to notify that the 
arms of the Pope against these obstinate men are 
softer than lead, and that your Majesty must set your 
hand to it, in which you will do a work as agreeable 
to God as a war against the Turk." 1 This was not 
all. The Bishop had gone on to advise a measure 
which would lead immediately and intentionally to a 
revival of the Wars of the Roses. "If matters come 
to a rupture, the Bishop said it would be well for your 
Majesty to attach to yourself the son of the Prin- 
cess Mary's governess [the Countess of Salisbury, 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. vi. p. 486. Spanish Calen- 
dar, vol. vi. part 2, p. 813. 



Treason of Fisher. 241 

mother of Reginald Pole], daughter of the Duke of 
Clarence, to whom, according to the opinion of many, 
the kingdom would belong. He is now studying at 
Padua. On account of the pretensions which he and 
his brother would have to the crown, the Queen would 
like to bestow the Princess on him in marriage, and 
the Princess would not refuse. He and his brothers 
have many kinsmen and allies, of whose services your 
Majesty might make use and gain the greater part of 
the realm." 1 

The Bishop of Rochester might plead a higher alle- 
giance as an excuse for conspiring to dethrone his 
Sovereign. But those who play such desperate games 
stake their lives upon the issue, and if they fail must 
pay the forfeit. The Bishop was not the only person 
who thus advised Chapuys. Rebellion and invasion 
became the settled thought of the King's opponents, 
and Catherine was expected to lend her countenance. 
The Regent's Council at Brussels, bolder than the 
Spanish, were for immediate war. A German force 
might be thrown across the Channel. The Flemish 
nobles might hesitate, but would allow ships to carry 
an army to Scotland. The army might then march 
south; Catherine would join it, and appear in the 
field. 2 Catherine herself bade Chapuys charge the 
Pope in her name to proceed to the execution of the 
sentence 3 "in the most rigorous terms of justice pos- 
sible; " the King, she said, would then be brought to 
reason when he felt the bit. She did not advocate 
violence in words, though what she did advocate im- 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. vi. p. 486. Spanish Calen- 
dar, vol. vi. part 2, p. 813. 

2 News from Flanders. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. vi. 
p. 493. 

3 I. e. the calling in the secular arm, which had not been actually 
done in the Brief de Attentatis. 



242 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

plied violence and made it inevitable. Fisher was 
prepared for any extremity. "The good and holy 
Bishop of Rochester," Chapuys repeated, "would like 
your Majesty to take active measures immediately, as 
I wrote in my last, which advice he has sent to me 
again lately to repeat. 1 Without this they fear dis- 
order. The smallest force would suffice." 

Knowing Charles's unwillingness, the Ambassador 
added a further incitement. Among the preachers, 
he said, there was one who spread worse errors than 
Luther. The Prelates all desired to have him pun- 
ished, but the Archbishop of Canterbury held him up, 
the King would not listen to them ; and, were it not 
that he feared the people, would long since have pro- 
fessed Lutheranism himself. 2 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Oct. 10, 1533. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. vi. p. 511. 

2 Ibid. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Interview between the Pope and Francis at Marseilles — Proposed 
compromise — The divorce case to he heard at Cambray — The 
Emperor consents — Catherine refuses — The story of the Nun of 
Kent — Bishop Fisher in the Tower — Imminent breach with the 
Papacy — Catherine and the Princess Mary — Separation of the Prin 
cess from her mother — Catherine at Kimbolton — Appeals to the 
Emperor — Encouragement of Lutheranism — Last efforts of Rome 
— Final sentence delivered by the Pope — The Pope's authority abol- 
ished in England. 

The Pope's last brief had been sufficiently definite 
to enable the Emperor to act upon it if Henry still 
disobeyed. English scruples, however, required a 
judgment on the divorce itself before force was openly 
tried. Clement went, as he had intended, to France 
in October, and met the French King at Marseilles. 
Norfolk, as has been said, was not allowed to be pres- 
ent; but Gardiner and Bonner attended as inferior 
agents to watch the proceedings. Cifuentes followed 
the Papal Court for Charles, and the English Nuncio, 
who had been at last recalled, was present also. The 
main result of the interview was the marriage of the 
Duke of Orleans to the Pope's niece, Catherine de' 
Medici, a guarantee that Francis was not to follow 
England into schism but was to remain Catholic. 
The engagements with which he had tempted Henry 
into committing himself were thus abandoned, and 
the honour which had been saved at Pavia was 
touched, if it was not lost. It had strength enough, 
however, to lead him still to exert himself to bring 



244 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Clement to reason. The bribe of Calais was not tried 
upon him, having been emphatically negatived by the 
Emperor. The Chancellor of France presented in 
Henry's name a formal complaint of the Pope's con- 
duct. It was insisted that when he commissioned 
Campeggio to go to England, he had formally prom- 
ised not to revoke the cause to Rome, and this prom- 
ise he had violated. The Pope's answer was curi- 
ous. He admitted the promise, but he said it was 
conditional on Queen Catherine's consent, though 
this clause was not inserted in the commission lest it 
might suggest to her to complain. 1 The answer was 
allowed to pass. Other objections were similarly set 
aside, and then the Cardinal de Tarbes, professing 
to speak in Henry's name, proposed that the Pope 
should appoint another commission to hear the cause 
at Cambray, himself nominating the judges. If the 
Pope would comply he was authorised to say that the 
King would obey, and, pending the trial, would sep- 
arate from Anne and recall Catherine to the court. 
Cifuentes had again urged the Pope to declare Henry 
deprived. The Pope had refused on the ground that, 
unless the Emperor would bind himself to execute the 
sentence in arms, the Holy See would lose reputation. 2 
He had, therefore, a fair excuse for listening to the 
French suggestion. The Cardinals deliberated, and 
thought it ought to be accepted. If the King would 
really part with Anne the cause might be even heard 
in England itself, and no better course could be 
thought of. The proposal was referred, through the 
Papal Nuncio, to the Emperor, and the Emperor 
wrote on the margin of the Nuncio's despatch to him 

1 Cifuentes to Charles V., Oct. 23, 1533. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. vi. p. 534. 

2 Ibid. 



Proposed Compromise. 245 

that he could give no answer till he had communica- 
ted with Catherine, but that he would write and rec- 
ommend her to follow the course pointed out by his 
Holiness. 1 

The Spanish party suspected a trick. They thought 
that there might be an appearance of compliance with 
the Pope's brief. Catherine might be allowed a room 
in the Palace till the cause was removed from Rome. 
It was all but gained in the Rota; if referred back in 
the manner proposed, it would be delayed by appeals 
and other expedients till it became interminable. 
Their alternative was instant excommunication. But 
the Pope had the same answer. How could he do 
that ? He did not know that the Emperor would take 
up arms. Were he to issue the censures, and were no 
effect to follow, the Apostolic See would be discred- 
ited. De Tarbes was asked to produce his commis- 
sion from Henry to make suggestions in his name. 
It was found when examined to be insufficient. 
Henry himself, when he learnt what had been done, 
"changed colour, crushed the letter in his hands, and 
exclaimed that the King of France had betrayed 
him." 2 But he had certainly made some concession 
or other. The time allowed in the last brief had run 
out. The French Cardinals did not relinquish their 
efforts. They demanded a suspension of six months, 
till Henry and Francis could meet again and arrange 
something which the Pope coidd accept. The Pope, 
false himself, suspected every one to be as false as he 
was. He suspected that a private arrangement was 
being made between Henry and the Emperor, and 
Cifuentes himself could not or would not relieve his 

1 The Papal Nuncio to Charles V., Oct. 22. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
iv. part 2, p. 830. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., Nov. 3, 1533. — Ibid. pp. 839-41. 



246 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

misgivings. In the midst of the uncertainty a courier 
came in from England with an appeal ad futurum 
Concilium — when a council could be held that was 
above suspicion. The word "council" always drove 
Clement distracted. He complained to Francis, and 
Francis, provoked at finding his efforts paralysed, 
said angrily that, were it not for his present need of 
the King of England's friendship lest others should 
forestall him there, he would play him a trick that he 
should remember. The suspension of the censures 
for an indefinite time was granted, however, after a 
debate in the Consistory. The English Council, 
when the proposal for the hearing of the cause at 
Cambray was submitted to them, hesitated over their 
answer. They told Chapuys that such a compromise 
as the Pope offered might once have been entertained, 
but nothing now would induce the King to sacrifice 
the interests of his new-born daughter ; " all the Am- 
bassadors in the world would not move him, nor even 
the Pope himself, if he came to visit him." 1 

Nevertheless, so anxious were all parties now at the 
last moment to find some conditions or other to pre- 
vent the division of Christendom that the Cardinal de 
Tarbes's proposition, or something like it, might have 
been accepted. The Emperor, however, had made his 
consent contingent on Catherine's acquiescence, and 
Catherine herself refused — refused resolutely, abso- 
lutely, and finally. Charles had written to her as he 
had promised. Chapuys sent her down the letter with 
a draft of the terms proposed, and he himself strongly 
exhorted her to agree. He asked for a distinct "Yes " 
or "No," and Catherine answered "No." Her cause 
should be heard in Rome, she said, and nowhere but 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 6, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iy. 
part 2, p. 871. 



Final Determination of Catherine. 247 

in Rome ; the removal to Cambray meant only delay, 
and from delay she had suffered long enough ; should 
Anne Boleyn have a son meanwhile, the King would 
be more obstinate than ever. The Pope must be re- 
quired to end the cause himself and to end it quickly. 
The Emperor knew her determination and might have 
spared his application. 1 She wrote to Chapuys "that, 
sentence once pronounced, the King, for all his 
bravado and obstinacy, would listen to reason, and 
war would be unnecessary." "On that point," the 
Ambassador said, "she would not find a single person 
to agree with her." 2 

Catherine had pictured to herself a final triumph, 
and she could not part with the single hope which had 
cheered her through her long trial. If any chance of 
accommodation remained after her peremptory an- 
swer, it was dispelled by the discovery of the treason 
connected with the Nun of Kent. The story of Eliz- 
abeth Barton has been told by me elsewhere. Here 
it is enough to say that from the beginning of the di- 
vorce suit a hysterical woman, professing to have re- 
ceived Divine revelations, had denounced the King's 
conduct in private and public, and had influenced the 
judgment of peers, bishops, statesmen, and privy 
councillors. She had been treated at first as a fool- 
ish enthusiast, but her prophecies had been circulated 
by an organisation of itinerant friars, and had been 
made use of to feed the disaffection which had shown 
itself, in the overtures to Chapuys. The effect which 
she had produced had been recently discovered. She 
had been arrested, had made a large confession, and 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Nov. 20, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. 859. Catherine to Charles V., Nov. 21. — Calendar, Foreign 
and Domestic, vol. vi. p. 578. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., Nov. 24, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. 864. 



248 Tlie Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

had implicated several of the greatest names in the 
realm. She had written more than once to the Pope. 
She had influenced Warham. She had affected the 
failing intellect of Wolsey. The Bishop of Rochester, 
the Marquis and Marchioness of Exeter, had admitted 
her to intimate confidence. Even Sir Thomas More 
had at one time half believed that she was inspired. 
Catherine, providentially, as Chapuys thought, had 
declined to see her, but was acquainted with all that 
passed between her and the Exeters. 

When brought before the Council she was treated 
comme une grosse dame — as a person of considera- 
tion. The occasion was of peculiar solemnity, and 
great persons were in attendance from all parts of the 
realm. The Chancellor, in the Nun's presence, gave 
a history of her proceedings. He spoke of the loyalty 
and fidelity which had been generally shown by the 
nation during the trying controversy. The King had 
married a second wife to secure the succession and 
provide for the tranquillity of the realm. The woman 
before them had instigated the Pope to censure him, 
and had endeavoured to bring about a rebellion to de- 
prive him of his throne. The audience, who had list- 
ened quietly so far, at the word "rebellion " broke out 
into cries of "To the stake! to the stake! " The Nun 
showed no alarm, but admitted quietly that what the 
Chancellor said was true. She had acknowledged 
much, but more lay behind, and Chapuys confessed 
himself alarmed at what she might still reveal. 
Cromwell observed to him that "God must have di- 
rected the sense and wit of the Queen to keep clear 
of the woman." But Catherine's confessor had been 
among the most intimate of her confederates; and to 
be aware of treason and not reveal it was an act of 
treason in itself. Sir Thomas More cleared himself. 



Impending Sentence. 219 

Fisher, the guiltiest of all, was sent to the Tower for 
misprision. 

The Pope's final sentence was now a certainty. 
Francis had cleared his conscience by advocating the 
compromise. Nothing more could be done, he said, 
unless Cranmer's judgment was revoked. He chose 
to forget that the compromise had been rejected by 
Catherine herself. He complained that as fast as he 
studied to gain the Pope the English studied to lose 
him. He had devised a plan, and the English spoilt 
it. He regretted that he had ever meddled in the 
matter. The Pope could not help himself; but must 
now excommunicate the King and call on Christendom 
to support him. 1 

Henry could no longer doubt that he was in serious 
danger. To the risk of invasion from abroad, disaf- 
fection at home had to be added. How far it extended 
he did not yet know. All along, however, he had 
been preparing for what the future might bring. 
The fleet was in high order ; the fortifications at Dover 
and Calais had been repaired; if the worst came he 
meant to be ready for it ; the stoppage of trade might 
be serious ; it was to this that Catherine looked as her 
most effective weapon ; but English commerce was as 
important to Spain and Flanders as the Flemish wool- 
lens to the London citizens, and the leading mer- 
chants on both sides came to an understanding that an 
Interdict would be disregarded. The Lutherans had 
the courage of their opinions and could be depended 
on to fight. The laws against heretics were allowed 
to sleep. Their numbers increased, and the French 
Ambassador observed to Chapuys that they would not 
easily be eradicated. Many who were orthodox in 

1 Gardiner to Henry VIII., Nov. 1533. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. vi. p. 571. 



250 The Divorce of Catherine of Arago'n. 

the faith were bitter against Rome and Romanism. 
The Duke of Norfolk was the loudest of them all. 
Flanders could not live, he said, to a deputation of 
alarmed citizens, without the English trade ; and as to 
the Pope, the Pope was a wretch and a bastard, a liar 
and a bad man ; he would stake wife and children and 
his own person to be revenged on him. 1 An order of 
Council came out that the Pope henceforward was to 
be styled only Bishop of Rome. Chapuys could not 
understand it. The Duke, he thought, was strangely 
changed ; he had once professed to be a staunch Cath- 
olic. Norfolk had not changed. The peculiar An- 
glican theory was beginning to show itself that a 
Church might still be Catholic though it ceased to be 
Papal. 

Irritated though he was at his last failure, Francis 
did not wholly abandon his efforts. A successful 
invasion of England by the Emperor would be dan- 
gerous or even fatal to France. He wrote to Anne. 
He sent his letter by the hands of her old friend, Du 
Bellay, and she was so pleased that she kissed him 
when he presented it. Du Bellay sought out Cha- 
puys. "Could nothing be done," he asked, "to pre- 
vent England from breaking with the Papacy? Bet- 
ter England, France, and the Empire had spent a 
hundred thousand crowns than allow a rupture. The 
Emperor had done his duty in supporting his aunt; 
might he not now yield a little to avoid worse?" 
Chapuys could give him no hope. The treatment of 
Catherine alone would force the Emperor to take fur- 
ther measures. 

That Catherine, so far, had no personal ill-usage to 
complain of had been admitted by the Spanish Coun- 

1 Chapuys to Charles, Dec. 9, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 
2, p. 875. 



Difficulty in Disposing of Catherine. 251 

oil, and alleged as an argument against interference 
by force in her favour. Chapuys conceived, and pro- 
bably hoped, that this objection was being removed. 

What to do with her was not the least of the per- 
plexities in which Henry had involved himself. By 
the public law of Christendom, a marriage with a 
brother's widow was illegal. By the law as it has 
stood ever since in England, the Pope of Rome nei- 
ther has, nor ever had, a right to dispense in such 
cases. She was not, therefore, Henry's queen. She 
deserved the most indulgent consideration; her anger 
and her resistance were legitimate and natural; but 
the fact remained. She had refused all compromise. 
She had insisted on a decision, and an English Court 
had given judgment against her. If she was queen, 
Elizabeth was a bastard, and her insistance upon her 
title was an invitation to civil war. She was not 
standing alone. The Princess Mary, on her father's 
marriage with Anne, had written him a letter, which 
he had praised as greatly to her credit; but either 
Anne's insolence or her mother's persuasion had taken 
her back to Catherine's side. Her conduct may and 
does deserve the highest moral admiration; but the 
fidelity of the child to her mother was the assertion of 
a right to be next in succession to the crown. There 
was no longer a doubt that a dangerous movement was 
on foot for an insurrection, supported from abroad. 
If Catherine escaped with Mary to the Continent, war 
would instantly follow. If there was a rebellion at 
home, their friends intended to release them, and to 
use their names in the field. It was found necessary 
again to part them. The danger would be diminished 
if they were separated; together they confirmed each 
other's resolution. Catherine was sent to Kimbolton 
with a reduced household — her confessor, her doctor, 



252 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

her own personal servants and attendants — who had 
orders to call her Princess, but obeyed as little as they 
pleased. Mary was attached to the establishment of 
her baby sister Elizabeth under charge of Anne Bo- 
leyn's aunt, Mrs. Shelton. 

History with a universal voice condemns the King's 
conduct as cruel and unnatural. It was not cruel in 
the sense of being wanton; it was not unnatural in 
the sense that he had no feeling. He was in a di- 
lemma, through his own actions, from which he could 
not otherwise extricate himself. Catherine was not 
his wife, and he knew it ; he had been misled by Wol- 
sey into the expectation that the Pope would relieve 
him ; he had been trifled with and played upon ; he 
was now threatened with excommunication and deposi- 
tion. Half his subjects, and those the boldest and 
most determined, had rallied to his side; his cause 
had become the occasion of a great and beneficent re- 
volution, and incidental diffieidties had to be dealt with 
as they rose. Catherine he had long ceased to love, 
if love had ever existed between them, but he respected 
her character and admired her indomitable courage. 
For his daughter he had a real affection, as appeared 
in a slight incident which occurred shortly after her 
removal. Elizabeth was at Hatfield, and Mary, whose 
pride Anne had threatened to humble, was with her. 
Mrs. Shelton's orders were to box Mary's ears if she 
presumed to call herself Princess. The King knew 
nothing of these instructions. He had found his 
daughter always dutiful except when under her mo- 
ther's influence, and one day he rode down to Hatfield 
to see her. The Lady Anne, finding that he had 
gone without her knowledge, "considering the King's 
easiness and lightness, if anyone dared to call it so," 
and afraid of the effect which a meeting with his 



The Princess Mary. 253 

daughter might have upon him, sent some one in pur- 
suit to prevent him from seeing or speaking with her. 
The King submitted to his imperious mistress, saw 
Anne's child, but did not see Mary. She had heard 
of his arrival, and as he was mounting his horse to 
ride back she showed herself on the leads, kneeling as 
if to ask his blessing. The King saw her, bowed, 
lifted his bonnet, and silently went his way. 1 

The French Ambassador met him afterwards in 
London. The King said he had not spoken to his 
daughter on account of her Spanish obstinacy. The 
Ambassador saying something in her favour, "tears 
rushed into the King's eyes, and he praised her many 
virtues and accomplishments." "The Lady," said 
Chapuys, "is aware of the King's affection for his 
daughter, and therefore never ceases to plot against 
her." The Earl of Northumberland, once Anne's 
lover, told him that she meant to poison the Princess. 
Chapuys had thought it might be better if she avoided 
irritating her father ; he advised her to protect herself 
by a secret protest, and to let her title drop on condi- 
tion that she might live with her mother. Lady 
Anne, however, it was thought, would only be more 
malicious, and a show of yielding would discourage her 
friends. Another plan was to carry her off abroad ; 
but war would then be inevitable, and Chapuys could 
not venture to recommend such an attempt without the 
Emperor's express consent. 2 

Catherine also was, or professed to be, in fear of 
foul play. Kimbolton was a small but not inconven- 
ient residence. It was represented as a prison. The 
King was supposed to be eager for her death; and 

1 Chapuys to Charles, Jan. 17, 1534. — Calendar, Foreign and Domes- 
tic, vol. vii. p. 31. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 11, 1534, — Spanish Calendar, vol. v, 
p. 31. 



254 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

in the animosity of the time he, or at least his mis- 
tress, was thought capable of any atrocity. The 
Queen was out of health in reality, having shown 
signs of dropsy, and the physicians thought her life 
uncertain. She would eat nothing which her new ser- 
vants provided ; the little food she took was prepared 
by her chamberwoman, and her own room was used as 
a kitchen. 1 Charles had intimated that, if she was ill- 
used, he might be driven to interfere; and every evil 
rumour that was current was treasured up to exasper- 
ate him into action. No words, Chapuys said in a 
letter to the Emperor, could describe the grief which 
the King's conduct to the Queen and Princess was 
creating in the English people. They complained 
bitterly of the Emperor's inaction. They waited 
only for the arrival of a single ship of war to rise en 
masse; and, if they had but a leader to take command, 
they said, they would do the work themselves. They 
reminded him of Warwick, who dethroned the King's 
grandfather, and Henry VII., who dethroned Richard. 
Some even said the Emperor's right to the throne was 
better than the present King's; for Edward's children 
were illegitimate, and the Emperor was descended 
from the House of Lancaster. If the Emperor would 
not move, at least he might stop the Flanders trade, 
and rebellion would then be certain. There was not 
the least hope that the King would submit. The ac- 
cursed Anne had so bewitched him that he dared not 
oppose her. The longer the Emperor delayed, the 
worse things would grow from the rapid spread of 
Lutheranism. 2 

Wise sovereigns, under the strongest provocation, 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 17, 1534. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. vii. pp. 31-33. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., Dee. 16, 1533. — Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. 
part 2, p. 883. 



Catherine appeals to the Emperor. 255 

are slow to encourage mutiny in neighbouring king- 
doms. Charles had to check the overzeal of his Am- 
bassador, and to tell him that "the present was no 
time for vigorous action or movement of any kind." 
Chapuys promised for the future "to persuade the 
Queen to patience, and to do nothing which might lead 
to the inconvenience " which the Emperor pointed 
out. 1 His impatient English friends whom he called 
"the people" were still obliged to submit in patience, 
while the King went on upon his way in the great 
business of the realm, amidst the "impress of ship- 
wrights," the "daily cast of cannon," and foreign 
mart of implements for war. An embassy was sent 
to Germany to treat for an alliance with the Smalcal- 
dic League. A book was issued, with the authority 
of the Privy Council, on the authority of kings and 
priests, showing that bishops and priests were equal, 
and that princes must rule them both. The Scotch 
Ambassador told Chapuys that if such a book had 
been published in his country the author of it would 
have been burnt. 2 Parliament met to pass the Bill, 
of which Henry had introduced a draft in the previous 
session, to restrict the Bishops' powers of punishing 
heretics. Dr. Nixe, the old bishop of Norwich, had 
lately burnt Thomas Bilney on his own authority, 
without waiting for the King's writ. Henry had the 
Bishop arrested, tried him before a lay judge, confis- 
cated his property, and imprisoned him in the Tower. 
Parliament made such exploits as that of Dr. Nixe 
impossible for the future. 

Act followed Act on the same lines. The Pope's 
Bulls were dispensed with on appointments to vacant 

1 Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 32. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 3, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p.l. 



256 TJie Divorce of Catherine of Ararjon. 

sees. The King's nomination was to suffice. The 
tributes to Rome, which had been levied hitherto in 
infinite variety of form, were to be swept finally away, 
and with them an Act was introduced of final sepa- 
ration from the Papacy. Were it only in defiance 
of the Pope, Chapuys said, such measures impend- 
ing would matter little, for the motive was under- 
stood; but the Preachers were teaching Lutheranism 
in the pulpits, drawing crowds to hear them, and, 
unless the root coidd be torn out, the realm would 
be lost. 

Before the closing stroke was dealt in England the 
last scene of the tragi -comedy had to be played out in 
Rome itself. On the Pope's return from Marseilles 
the thunderbolt was expected to fall. The faithful 
Du Bellay rushed off to arrest the uplifted arm. He 
found Clement wrangling as before with Cifuentes, 
and Cifuentes, in despair, considering that, if justice 
would not move the Pope, other means would have to 
be found. The English Acts of Parliament were not 
frightening Clement. To them he had become used. 
But he knew by this time for certain that, if he de- 
prived Henry, the Emperor would do nothing. Why, 
said he, in quiet irony, to the Emperor's Minister, 
does not your master proceed on the Brief de Atten- 
tats ? It would be as useful to him as the sentence 
which he asks for. By that the King has forfeited his 
throne. Cifuentes had to tell him, what he himself 
was equally aware of, that it was not so held in Eng- 
land. Until the main cause had been decided it was 
uncertain whether the marriage with Anne Boleyn 
might not be lawful after all. 1 In one of his varying 
moods the Pope had said at Marseilles that, if Henry 

1 Cifuentes to Charles V., Jan. 23, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 17. 



Last Efforts at Rome. 257 

had sent a proctor to plead for him at Rome, sentence 
would have been given in his favour. 1 It was doubt- 
ful whether even the Emperor was really determined, 
so ambiguous had been his answers when he was asked 
if he would execute the Bull. Du Bellay arrived in 
the midst of the suspense. He had brought an ear- 
nest message from Francis, praying that judgment 
might be stayed. As this was the last effort to pre- 
vent the separation of England the particulars have a 
certain interest. 

In an interview with the Pope Du Bellay said that 
when he left London he believed that the rupture was 
inevitable. His own sovereign, however, had sent 
him to represent to the Holy See that the King of 
England was on the eve of forming a treaty with the 
Lutheran Princes. The King of France did not pre- 
tend to an opinion on the right or wrong of his bro- 
ther of England's case; but he wished to warn his 
Holiness that means ought to be found to prevent 
such an injury to the Church. 

The Pope answered that he had thought long and 
painfully on what he ought to do, and had delayed 
sentence as long as he was able. The Queen was 
angry and accused him of having been the cause of all 
that had happened. If the King of France had any 
further proposal to offer he was ready to hear it. If 
not, the sentence must be pronounced. 

Cifuentes, finding Clement again hesitating, pointed 
out to him the violent acts which were being done in 
England, the encouragement of heresy, the cruel treat- 
ment of the Queen and Princess, and the risk to the 
Queen's life if nothing was done to help her. Clement 
sent for Du Bellay again and inquired more particu- 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 28, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 24, 



258 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

larly if he had brought no practical suggestion with 
him. Du Bellay could only say that he had himself 
brought none ; but he trusted that the Pope might de- 
vise something, as, without it, not England only but 
other countries would be irretrievably lost to the 
Holy See. The Pope said he could think of nothing ; 
and in his account of what had passed to Cifuentes he 
declared that he had told Du Bellay that he meant to 
proceed. 

Cifuentes was not satisfied. He saw that the Pope 
was still reluctant. He knew that there were in- 
trigues among the Cardinals. He said that Henry 
was only making use of France to intimidate him. 
He asserted, with the deluding confidence which 
blinded the whole Catholic party, that the revolt of 
England was the act of the King and not of the peo- 
ple. He was certain, he said, that, although the 
Bishop pretended that he had no expedient to pro- 
pose, he had one which he dared not disclose. He 
could not bring the Pope to a resolution. A further 
delay of six weeks was granted. Messengers were 
despatched to England, and English Commissioners 
were sent in answer. They had no concessions to 
offer, nor were any concessions expected of them. 
They lingered on the way. The six weeks expired 
and they had not arrived. The Spanish party in 
the Consistory were peremptory. They satisfied the 
Pope's last scruples by assuring him, vaguely, that he 
might rely upon the Emperor, and on March 23, with 
an outburst of general enthusiasm, the Bull was issued 
which declared valid the marriage of Henry and Cath- 
erine, the King to be excommunicated if he disobeyed, 
and to have forfeited the allegiance of his subjects. 

The secular arm was not yet called in, and, before 
Charles could be required to move, one more step 



Tlie Papal Sentence. 259 

would still be needed. But essentially, and on the 
main cause of the trouble, the Pope had at last spoken, 
and spoken filially. 1 The passionate and devout Ortiz 
poured out on the occasion the emotions of grateful 
Catholicity. "The Emperor," he wrote, "had won 
the greatest of his victories — a victory over Hell. 
There had been difficulties even to the last. Cam- 
peggio had opposed, but at last had yielded to the 
truth. The Pope repented of his delay, but now 
feared he had committed a great sin in hesitating so 
long. The holy martyr, the Queen of England, had 
been saved. The Cardinals in past years had been 
bribed by the French King; by the influence of the 
Holy Spirit they had all decided in the Queen's favour. 
Their conscience told them they could not vote against 
her." 2 

In England the news of the decision had not been 
waited for. Two days after the issue of the Bull, the 
Act abolishing the Pope's authority was read the last 
time in the House of Lords, to the regret, said Cha- 
puys, of a minority of good men, who could not 
carry the House along with them. 

1 Cifuentes to Charles V., March 24. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 84. 

2 Ortiz to Charles V., March 24, 1534. — Ibid. vol. v. p. 89. 

9 



CHAPTER XV. 

The Papal curse — Determined attitude of the Princess Mary — Cha- 
puys desires to be heard in Parliament — Interview with the King 

— Permission refused — The Act of Succession — Catherine loses 
the title of Queen — More and Fisher refuse to swear to the statute 

— Prospects of rebellion in Ireland — The Emperor unwilling to 
interfere — Perplexity of the Catholic party — Chapuys before the 
Privy Council — Insists on Catherine's rights — Singular defence of 
the Pope's action — Chapuys's intrigues — Defiant attitude of Cath- 
erine — Fears for her life — Condition of Europe — Prospect of war 
between France and the Empire — Unwillingness of the Emperor to 
interfere in England — Disappointment of Catherine — Visit of Cha- 
puys to Kimbolton. 

Pretenders to supernatural powers usually confine 
the display of their skill to the presence of friends and 
believers. The exercise of such powers to silence op- 
ponents or to convince incredulity may be alleged to 
have existed in the past, or maybe foretold as to hap- 
pen in the future ; in the actual present prudent men 
are cautious of experiments which, if they fail, bring 
them only into ridicule. Excommunication had real 
terrors when a frightened world was willing to execute 
its penalties — when the object of the censure was cut 
off from the services of religion and was regarded as a 
pariah and an outlaw. The Princes of Europe had 
real cause to fear the curse of the Pope when their 
own subjects might withdraw their obedience and the 
Christian Powers were ready to take arms to coerce 
them. But Clement knew that his own thunders 
would find no such support, and he lacked the confi- 



The Princess Mary. 261 

dence of Dr. Ortiz that Heaven, if men failed, would 
avenge its own wrongs. He had not been permitted 
even to invite the Emperor formally to enforce the 
sentence which he had been compelled to pronounce. 
Protestant Germany had been left unpunished in its 
heresy. The curse had passed harmless over Luther 
and Luther's supporters. In England he was as- 
sured that his authority was still believed in, and that 
the King would be brought to judgment by his sub- 
jects. But there were no outward signs of it. His 
Bulls could no longer be introduced there. His clergy 
might at heart be loyal to him ; but they had submit- 
ted to the Crown and the Parliament. His name was 
struck out of the service-books, and the business of 
life went on as if he had never spoken ; the business 
of life, and also the business of the Government: for, 
the Pope being disposed of, the vital question of the 
succession to the Crown had still to be formally ar- 
ranged. 

Since the Emperor would not act Chapuys had been 
feeling his way with the Scotch. If James chose to 
assert himself, the Ambassador had promised him 
the Emperor's support. "He might marry the Prin- 
cess Mary, and the Emperor would welcome the union 
of the crowns of Scotland and England." 1 Had 
Mary submitted to her father, her claim to a place in 
the line of inheritance would not have been taken 
from her, for she had been born bona fide parentum 
and in no reasonable sense could be held illegitimate. 
But she had remained immoveable. In small things 
as well as great she had been unnecessarily irritating. 
Her wardrobe had required replenishing, and she had 
refused to receive anything which was not given to 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 21, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
pp. 53-54. 



262 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

her as Princess. Anne Boleyn accused her aunt of 
being too lenient, Mrs. Shelton having refused to 
make herself the instrument of Anne's violence. 
Chapuys feared the "accursed Lady" might be 
tempted into a more detestable course. But, any 
way, the nation had broken with the Pope, and Mary 
could not be left with the prospect of succeeding to the 
crown while she denied the competency of the English 
Parliament and the English courts of justice. A bill, 
therefore, was introduced to make the necessary pro- 
visions, establishing the succession in the child, and 
future children, of Anne. 

Catherine could not yet believe that Parliament 
would assent. Parliament, she thought, had never 
yet heard the truth. She directed Chapuys to apply 
for permission to appear at the bar of the House of 
Lords and speak for her and the Princess. 

After the failure of the Nuncio with Convocation 
Chapuys had little hope that he would be listened to ; 
but Catherine insisted on his making the attempt, 
since a refusal, she thought, would be construed into 
an admission of her right. 

The Ambassador wrote to the Council. They de- 
sired to know what he proposed to say, and he was 
allowed a private interview with the Duke of Norfolk. 
He told the Duke that he wished merely to give a 
history of the divorce case and would say nothing to 
irritate. The Duke said he would speak to the King ; 
but the Emperor, considering all that the King had 
done for him, had not treated him well ; they would 
sooner he had gone to war at once than crossed and 
thwarted them at so many turns. Chapuys protested 
that war had never been thought of, and it was ar- 
ranged that he should see the King and himself pre- 
sent his request. Before he entered the presence Nor- 



Demand of the Spanish Ambassador. 263 

folk warned him to be careful of his words, as he was 
to speak on matters so odious and unpleasing that 
all the sugars and sauces in the world could not make 
them palatable. The King, however, was gracious. 
Chapuys boldly entered on the treatment of the 
Queen and Princess. He had heard, he said, that 
the subject was to be laid before Parliament, and he 
desired to present his remonstrances to the Lords and 
Commons themselves. 

The King replied civilly that, as Chapuys must be 
aware, his first marriage had been judicially declared 
null; the Lady Catherine, therefore, could not any 
longer be called queen, nor the Lady Mary his legiti- 
mate daughter. As to Chapuys 's request, it was not 
the custom in England for strangers to speak in Par- 
liament. 

Chapuys urged that the Archbishop's sentence was 
worth no more than the Bishop of Bath's sentence 
illegitimatising the children of Edward IV. Parlia- 
ment would, no doubt, vote as the King pleased ; but, 
as to custom, no such occasion had ever arisen be- 
fore, and Parliament was not competent to decide 
questions which belonged only to spiritual judges. 
The Princess was indisputably legitimate, as at the 
time of her birth no doubt existed on the lawfulness 
of her mother's marriage. 

This was a sound argument, and Henry seemed to 
admit the force of it. But he said that neither pope 
nor princes had a right to interfere with the laws and 
institutions of England. Secular judges were per- 
fectly well able to deal with matrimonial causes. 
The Princess Elizabeth was next in succession till a 
son was born to him. That son he soon hoped to 
have. In short, he declined to allow Chapuys to 
make a speech in the House of Lords; so Chapuys 



264 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

dropped the subject, and interceded for permission to 
the Princess Mary to reside with her mother. He 
said frankly that, if harm came to her while in the 
charge of her present governess, the world would not 
be satisfied. Of course he knew that for all the gold 
in the world the King would not injure his daughter ; 
but, even if she died of an ordinary illness, suspicions 
would be entertained of fold play. With real courage 
Chapuys reminded Henry that the knights who killed 
Becket had been encouraged by the knowledge that 
the king was displeased with him. The enemies of 
the Princess, perceiving that she was out of favour, 
and aware of the hatred 1 felt for her by the Lady 
Anne, might be similarly tempted to make away with 
her while she was in Mrs. Shelton's charge. 

If Chapuys really used this language (and the ac- 
count of it is his own), Henry VIII. was more for- 
bearing than history has represented him. He turned 
the subject, and complained, as Norfolk had done, of 
the Emperor's ingratitude. Chapuys said he had no- 
thing to fear from the Emperor, unless he gave occa- 
sion for it. He smiled sardonically, and replied that, 
if he had been vindictive, there had been occasions 
when he could have revenged himself. It was enough, 
however, if the world knew how injured he had been. 
He then closed the conversation, dismissed his visitor, 
and told him he must be satisfied with the patience 
with which he had been heard. 2 

The Bill for the settlement of the crown was thus 
discussed without Chapuys' s assistance. The terms 
of it and the reasons for it are familiar to all readers 
of English history. The King's efforts to obtain an 

1 Haine novercide. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., Feh. 26, 1534. Abridged. —Span ish Cal- 
endar, vol. v. p. 59, etc. 



The Act of Succession. 265 

heir male had, so far, only complicated an already 
dangerous problem. Though the marriage with 
Catherine had been set aside in an English court, the 
right of such a Court to pronounce upon it was not 
yet familiar to the nation generally. The Pope had 
given an opposite sentence: many of the peers and 
commons, the Duke of Norfolk among them, though 
reconciled to the divorce, had not yet made up their 
minds to schism ; l and Mary had still many friends 
who were otherwise loyal to her father. But, after 
the experience of the last century, Englishmen of all 
persuasions were frightened at the prospect of a dis- 
puted succession, which only a peremptory Act of 
Parliament could effectively dispose of. The Bill, 
therefore, passed at last with little opposition. 
Cranmer's judgment was confirmed as against the 
Pope's. The marriage with Catherine was declared 
null, the marriage with Anne valid, and Anne's chil- 
dren the lawful heirs of the crown. The Act alone 
was not enough. The disclosures brought to light in 
the affair of the Nun of Kent, the disaffection then 
revealed, and the rank of the persons implicated in it, 
necessitated further precautions. Any doubt which 
might have existed on the extent and character of the 
conspiracy is removed for ever by the Spanish Am- 
bassador's letters. The Pope was threatening to ab- 
solve English subjects from their allegiance : how far 
he might be able to influence their minds had as yet 
to be seen; a Commission, therefore, was appointed 
to require and receive the oaths of all persons whom 
there was reason to suspect, that they would maintain 
the succession as determined in the Act. 

The sentence from Rome had not arrived when the 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., March 7, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
v. p. 73. 



266 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Bill became law, and no action was taken upon it till 
the terms in which Clement had spoken were sjDecifi- 
cally known. Catherine, however, seemed to think 
that the further she could provoke Henry to harsh 
measures, the nearer would be her own deliverance. 
She had always persuaded herself that judgment once 
given at Rome for her, the King would yield. The 
Act of Succession was thus specially galling, and with 
the same violent unwisdom which she had shown from 
the first, and against the direct advice of Chapuys, she 
had decided that the time was come for Mary " to show 
her teeth to the King." 1 

It was not for her to expose her daughter to perils 
which she professed to believe were threatening the 
lives of both of them. But Mary obeyed her but too 
well. While the Succession Bill was before the two 
Houses, Anne, probably at Henry's instance, went 
to Hatfield to invite her to receive her as Queen, pro- 
mising, if she complied, that she should be treated 
better than she had ever been. Mary's answer was 
that she knew no Queen but her mother; if the 
King's mistress, so she designated Anne, would inter- 
cede with her father for her she would be grateful. 
The Lady, Chapuys heard, had said in a rage that she 
would put down that proud Spanish blood and do her 
worst with her. Nor was this all. The determined 
girl refused to be included in Elizabeth's household, 
or pay her the respect attaching to her birth. Eliza- 
beth soon after being removed from Hatfield to the 
More, Mary declined to go with her, and obliged the 
gentlemen in attendance to place her by force in Mrs. 
Shelton's litter. The Ambassador felt the folly of 
such ineffectual resistance. Never, he said, would 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., March 30. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 
96. 



Indifference to the Papal Censure. 267 

he have advised her to run such a risk of exasperating 
the King, while the Lady Anne was never ceasing 
day or night to injure her. His own advice had been 
that when violence was threatened she should yield ; 
but he had been overruled by Catherine. 1 

Chapuys's intercourse with the Court was now re- 
stricted. He was received when he applied for a for- 
mal interview; but for his information on, what was 
passing there, he was left to secret friends or to his 
diplomatic colleagues. He asked the French Ambas- 
sador how the King took the Pope's sentence. The 
ambassador said the King did not care in the least, 
which Chapuys was unable to believe. The action of 
the Parliament alarmed and shocked him. Among 
the hardest blows was the taking from the Bishops 
the powers of punishing heretics — a violation, as it 
appeared to him, of common right and the constitution 
of the realm. The sharp treatment of Bishop Nixe 
he regarded as an outrage and a crime. The Easter 
preachers were ordered to denounce the Pope in their 
sermons. Chapuys shuddered at their language. 
"They surpassed themselves in the abominations which 
they uttered." Worse than sermons followed. On 
the arrival of the "sentence," the Commission began 
its work in requiring the oath to the Succession Act. 
Those whose names had been compromised in the 
revelation of the Nun were naturally the first to be 
put to the test. Fisher, who had been found guilty 
of misprision of treason, had so far been left unpun- 
ished. It is uncertain whether the Government was 
aware of his communications with Chapuys, but 
enough was known to justify suspicion. The oath was 
offered him. He refused to take it, and he was com- 
mitted to the Tower in earnest. He had been sen- 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., 1534. —Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 96. 



268 The Divorce of Catherine of Amy on. 

tenced to imprisonment before, but had been so far 
left at liberty. Sir Thomas More might have been 
let alone, for there was no fear that he would lend 
himself to active treason. He, too, however, was re- 
quired to swear, and declined, and followed Fisher to 
the same place. The Pope had declared war against 
the King, and his adherents had become the King's 
enemies. Chapuys himself was suspected. His en- 
couragement of disaffection coidd not have been wholly 
concealed. He believed that his despatches had been 
opened in Calais, and that Cromwell had read them. 
There had been a Scotch war. As the Emperor was 
disinclined to stir, Chapuys had looked on James as 
a possibly useful instrument in disturbing Henry's 
peace. A Scottish Commission was in London to 
arrange a treaty, "as they had found England too 
strong for them alone." The Ambassador, more 
eager than ever, tried his best to dissuade the Chief 
Commissioner from agreeing to terms, pointing out 
the condition of the kingdom and the advantage to 
Scotland in joining in an attack on the King. The 
Scotchman listened, and promised to be secret. Cha- 
puys assured him of the Emperor's gratitude, 1 and, 
though the treaty was concluded, he consoled the Am- 
bassador by saying "that the peace would not prevent 
his master from waging war on the English. Pleas 
in plenty could easily be found." 2 

Ireland was a yet more promising field of opera- 
tions. On the first rumour of the divorce the Earl of 
Desmond had offered his services to the Emperor. 
Chapuys discovered a more promising champion of 
the Church in Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, whom he 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 22, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
pp. 126, 127. 

2 Ibid. May 14, p. 151. 



The Papal Sentence. 269 

described as "a youth of high promise." If the Pope 
would send the censures to Dublin, he undertook that 
Lord Thomas would publish them, and would be found 
a useful friend. 

Again, in spite of refusal, he urged the Emperor to 
take action himself. Harm, he said, would befall 
the Queen and Princess, if there was longer delay; 
Mrs. Shelton had told Mary that she would lose her 
head if she persisted in disobedience; the people 
loved them well, but were afraid to move without 
support. The Lutherans were increasing, and would 
soon be dangerously strong. The present was the 
time to act. The King thought he could hold the 
recusants down by obliging them to swear to his 
statute; but if the chance was allowed, they would 
show their real minds. 1 

One difficulty remained in the way of action. The 
Pope, though he had given judgment, had not yet 
called in the secular arm which was supposed to be 
necessary as a preliminary, and all parties, save Cath- 
erine and her passionate advisers, were unwilling that 
a step should be taken from which there would be no 
returning. The Emperor did not wish it. Francis, 
irritated at the refusal to listen to Du Bellay, told the 
Pope that he was throwing England away. "The 
Pope," wrote the Cardinal of Jaen to Secretary Covos, 
"is restive. If we push him too hard he may go over 
to the enemy." 2 Charles ordered Cifuentes to keep 
strictly to his instructions. The evident hesitation 
amused and encouraged the English Cabinet. 
"Which Pope do you mean?" said the Duke of Nor- 
folk to the Scotch Ambassador, who had spoken of 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 14, 1534. —Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
pp. 125-31. 

2 Ibid. May 21, 1534, p. 167. 



270 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Clement as an arbiter on some point in dispute, "the 
Pope of Rome or the Pope of Lambeth?" Henry, 
finding Francis had not wholly deserted him, "praised 
God " at a public dinner for having given him so 
good a brother in the King of France. 

Under these circumstances, the Catholic party in 
England were alarmed and perplexed. Catherine 
had been undeceived at last in her expectation that 
the King would submit when the Pope had spoken. 
She informed Chapuys that she now saw it was neces- 
sary to use stronger remedies. What these remedies 
should be Chapuys said she dared not write, lest her 
letters should be intercepted. She was aware, too, 
that the Emperor knew best what should be done. 
Something must be tried, however, and speedily ; for 
the King was acting vigorously, and to wait would 
be to be lost. A startling difference of opinion also 
was beginning to show itself even among the Queen's 
friends. Some might turn round, Chapuys said, as 
they feared the Emperor, in helping her, would set up 
again the Pope's authority, which they called tyran- 
nical. It was the alarm at this which enabled the 
King to hold his subjects together. 1 

Though Mary had "shown her teeth" at her mo- 
ther's bidding, she had not provoked her father to 
further severities. He asked Mrs. Shelton if her 
pride was subdued. Mrs. Shelton saying there were 
no signs of it, he ordered that she should be more 
kindly treated ; and he sent her a message that, if she 
was obedient, he would find some royal marriage for 
her. She answered that God had not so blinded her 
that she should confess that her father and mother had 
lived in adultery. The words, perhaps, lost nothing 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 14, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, toI. v, 
pp. 153, 154. 



Position of the Queen and the Princess Mary. 271 

in the repeating; but the King said, and said rightly, 
that it was her mother's influence. Catherine had 
persuaded her that his kindness was treachery, and 
that there was a purpose to poison her. 1 

A serious question, however, had risen about the 
Statute of Succession. The oath had been universally 
taken by everyone to whom it had been offered save 
More and Fisher. The reason for demanding it was 
the notorious intention of the Catholic party to take 
arms in Catherine's and Mary's interests. Were oth- 
ers to be sworn, and were the two ladies chiefly con- 
cerned to be exempted ? Catherine, in ceasing to be 
queen, might be held to have recovered her rights as 
a foreigner. But she had remained in England by 
her own wish, and at the desire of the Emperor, to 
assist in fighting out the battle. Mary was undoubt- 
edly a subject, and Catherine and she had both inti- 
mated that if the oath was demanded of them they 
woidd not take it. The Peers and Bishops were 
called together to consider the matter, and, as Cath- 
erine was a Spanish Princess, Chapuys was invited to 
attend. 

The council-room was thronged. The Ambassador 
was introduced, and a copy of the statute was placed 
before him. He was informed that English subjects 
generally had voluntarily sworn to obey it. Two 
ladies only, Madam Catherine and Madam Mary, had 
declined, and the pains and penalties were pointed out 
to him which they might incur if they persisted. 

Chapuys had been refused an opportunity of speak- 
ing his opinion in Parliament. It was now spontane- 
ously offered him. He might, if he had pleased, have 
denounced the hardship of compelling the Queen and 

1 Chapuys? to Charles V., May 14, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
pp. 153, 154. 



272 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

her daughter to assent personally to a statute which 
took their rights from them. The preamble declared 
the King's marriage with Catherine to have been in- 
valid, and in swearing to the Act of Succession she 
would be abandoning her entire plea. There was no 
intention, however, of forcing the oath upon the 
mother. Mary was the person aimed at; and Mary 
might have been spared also, if she had not "shewn 
her teeth " so plainly. Chapuys, however, spoke out 
boldly on the whole question. The King, he said, 
could not deprive the Princess of her place as heir to 
the crown, nor was the English Parliament competent 
to decide as to the validity of a marriage. The pre- 
amble of the statute was a lie. He would have proved 
it had he been permitted to speak there. People had 
sworn because they were afraid, and did not wish to 
be martyrs ; and the oath being imposed by force, they 
knew that it could be no more binding than the oaths 
which he had lately taken to the Pope had bound the 
Archbishop of Canterbury. For a general answer, he 
produced the Pope's sentence. The obstinacy which 
they complained of, he said, was in them, and not in 
the ladies. He could not persuade the ladies to swear ; 
if he could, he would not, unless under orders from 
the Emperor ; and he warned the Council that if they 
tried further violence they must be prepared to find 
the Emperor and Ferdinand their open enemies; the 
Emperor regarded the Queen as his mother, and the 
Princess as his sister ; and, though he allowed that he 
was speaking without instructions, he intimated dis- 
tinctly that the Emperor would not fail to protect 
them, and protect the cause of the Church, which had 
been intertwined with theirs. 

Chapuys was bold, bolder perhaps than the Council 
had expected. The Bishop of Durham rose after a 



Debate in Council. 273 

short pause. He had been Catherine's advocate, and, 
as Chapuys said, was one of the most learned and 
honest prelates in the realm. But he, too, had come 
to see that the cause now at issue was the independ- 
ence of England. He said that the statute had been 
well considered. It had been passed for the quiet of 
the realm, and must be obeyed. On Chapuys re- 
joining that the quiet of the realm required the King's 
return to his wife, Tunstall mentioned the promises 
which had been made at the beginning of the suit, and 
produced the decretal which the Pope had given at 
Orvieto, declaring the marriage with Catherine invalid. 
Chapuys, in his answer, admitted, unconsciously, the 
justice of the English plea. He said the decretal had 
been issued when the Pope had just escaped from St. 
Angelo, and was angry and exasperated against the 
Emperor. As to other promises, he might or might 
not have made them. If he said he would give judg- 
ment in the King's favour, he might have meant 
merely such a judgment as would be good for the 
King; or perhaps he was doing as criminal judges 
often did — holding out hopes to prisoners to tempt 
confessions from them. Such practices were legiti- 
mate and laudable. 

The English argument was that a judge such as 
Chapuys described was not to be trusted with Eng- 
lish suits. Henry himself could not have put the 
case more effectively. The Bishop of London spoke, 
and the Archbishop of York, and then Sampson (the 
Dean of the Chapel Royal), who affirmed bluntly that 
the Pope had no inherent rights over England. Man 
had given him his authority, and man might take it 
from him. Chapuys replied that the King had found 
it established when he came to the throne, and had 
himself recognised it in referring his cause to the Pope. 



274 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Cramner was present, but took no direct part. He 
brought out, however, the true issue, by suggesting, 
through Tunstall, that the Pope had incapacitated 
himself by submitting to be controlled by the Emperor. 
This was the point of the matter. To allow an Eng- 
lish suit to be decided by Charles V. was to make 
England a vassal state of the Empire. To this Cha- 
puys had no valid answer, for none could be given ; 
and he discreetly turned the argument by reflecting 
on the unfitness of Cranmer also. 

So far the laymen on the Council had left the dis- 
cussion to the Bishops, and the Ambassador thought 
that he had the best of it. The Duke of Norfolk, he 
imagined, thought so too ; for the Duke rose after the 
taunts at the Archbishop. The King's second mar- 
riage, he said, was a fait accompli^ and to argue 
further over it was loss of time. They had passed 
their statute, and he, for one, would maintain it to 
the last drop of his blood. To refuse obedience was 
high treason ; and, the fact being so, the ladies must 
submit to the law. The King himself coidd not dis- 
obey an Act which concerned the tranquillity of the 
realm. 

Chapuys would not yield. He said their laws were 
like the laws of Mahomet — laws of the sword — being 
so far worse, that Mahomet did not make his subjects 
swear to them. Not with entire honesty — for he 
knew now that Catherine had consented to the use of 
force — he added, that they could have small confi- 
dence in their own strength if they were afraid of two 
poor weak women, who had neither means nor will to 
trouble them. 

The Council said that they would report to the 
King, and so the conversation ended. Chapuys spoke 
afterwards privately to Cromwell. He renewed his 



Appeals to Catherine. 275 

warning that, if violence was used, there would be real 
danger. Cromwell said he would do his best. But 
there was a general fear that something harsh would 
be tried at the instigation of the "accursed Concu- 
bine." Probably the question would be submitted to 
Parliament, or as some thought the Queen and Prin- 
cess would be sent to the Tower. 1 Conceiving ex- 
tremities to be close, Chapuys asked the Scotch Am- 
bassador whether, if a mandate came from the Pope 
against England, the Scots would obey it. Certainly 
they would obey it, was the answer, though they 
might pretend to regret the necessity. 

Violence such as Chapuys anticipated was not in 
contemplation. The opinion of Europe would have 
been outraged, if there had been no more genuine rea- 
son for moderation. An appeal was tried on Cathe- 
rine herself. The Archbishop of York and the Bishop 
of Durham, both of whom had been her friends, went 
down to her to explain the nature of the statute and 
persuade her to obedience. Two accounts remain of 
the interview — that of the Bishops, and another sup- 
plied to Chapuys by the Queen's friends. The Bish- 
ops said that she was in great choler and agony, inter- 
rupted them with violent speeches, declared that she 
was the King's lawful wife, that between her and 
Prince Arthur there had been never more than a 
formal connection. The Pope had declared for her. 
The Archbishop of Canterbury was a shadow. The 
Acts of Parliament did not concern her. 2 Chapuys' s 
story is not very different, though two elderly prelates, 
once her staunch supporters, could hardly have been 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 19, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
pp. 155-66. 

2 Lee and Tunstall to Henry VIII., May 21, 1534. — Calendar, For- 
eign and Domestic, vol. vii. p. 270. 



276 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

as brutal as he describes. After various rough 
speeches, he said that the Bishops not only referred 
to the penalties of the statute (they themselves admit- 
ted this) but told her that if she persisted she might 
be put to death. She had answered that if any of 
them had a warrant to execute her they might do it at 
once. She begged only that the ceremony should be 
public, in the face of the people, and that she might 
not be murdered in her room. 1 

The mission had been rather to advise than to exact, 
and special demands were rather made on Catherine's 
side than the King's. Not only she would not swear 
herself to the statute, but she insisted that her house- 
hold should be exempted also. She required a con- 
fessor, chaplains, physician, men-servants, as many 
women as the King would allow, and they were to take 
no oath save to the King and to her. Henry made 
less difficulty than might have been looked for — less 
than he would have been entitled to make had he 
known to what purpose these attendants would be 
used. The oath was for his native subjects ; it was 
not exacted from herself, or by implication from her 
confessor, who was a Spaniard, or from her foreign 
servants. 2 If she would be reasonable he said that 
some of her requests might be granted. She might 
order her household as she pleased, if they would 
swear fidelity to him, and to herself as Princess Dow- 
ager. But he could not allow them to be sworn to 
her as Queen. 

Chapuys's business was to make the worst of the 
story to the Emperor. The Court was at Richmond. 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 29, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 169. 

2 Thus much was certainly meant hy the King's words: " He could 
not allow any of his native subjects to refuse to take the oath." — Cal- 
endar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. vii. p. 272. ' 



Fears for Catherine's Life. 277 

Chapuys went thither, presented a complaint to the 
Council, and demanded an interview with the King. 
Henry would not see him, but sent him a message 
that he would inquire into what had passed, and 
would send him an answer. Chapuys, who had been 
for two years urging war in vain, exaggerated the 
new injuries. Others, and perhaps he himself, really 
believed the Queen's life to be in danger. "Every 
one," he wrote, after describing what had taken place, 
"fears that mischief will now befall her; the con- 
cubine has said she will never rest till she is put out 
of the way. It is monstrous and almost incredible, 
yet such is the King's obstinacy, and the wickedness 
of this accursed woman, that everything may be ap- 
prehended." 1 Anne, it is likely, was really danger- 
ous. The King, so far as can be outwardly traced, 
was making the best of an unpleasant situation. The 
Council promised Chapuys that his remonstrances 
should be attended to. The Queen was left to herself, 
with no more petty persecutions, to manage her house- 
hold in her own way. They might swear or not swear 
as pleased themselves and her; and with passionate 
loyalty they remained devoted to her service, assist- 
ing her in the conduct of a correspondence which 
every day became more dangerous. 

The European sky meanwhile was blackening with 
coming storms. Francis had not forgotten Pavia, 
and as little could allow England to be conquered by 
Charles as Charles could allow France to be bribed by 
the promise of Calais. His Agents continued busy at 
Rome keeping a hand on the Pope ; a fresh interview 
was proposed between the French King and Henry, 
who was to meet him at Calais again in the summer; 
and an aggressive Anglo-French alliance was a possi- 

1 Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 172. 



278 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

bility which the Emperor had still to fear. He had 
small confidence in the representations of Chapuys, and 
had brought himself to hope that by smooth measures 
Henry might still be recovered. A joint embassy 
might be sent to England from himself and the Pope 
to remonstrate on the schism. If nothing else came of 
it, their own position would be set right before the 
world and in the eyes of English opinion. Clement, 
however, now made difficulties, and had no desire to 
help Charles out of his embarrassments. Charles had 
forced a judgment out of him without promising to 
execute it. Charles might now realise the inconven- 
ience of having driven him on against his own inclina- 
tion. Cifuentes had again received instructions to 
delay the issue of the Brief of Execution, or the call- 
ing in the secular arm. The Pope felt that he had 
been made use of and had been cheated, and was nat- 
urally resentful. Cifuentes made his proposal. Cle- 
ment, "with the placid manner which he generally 
showed when a subject was disagreeable to him, . . . 
said that the embassy might go if the Emperor 
wished. ... It would not be of the slightest use 
. . . but it might do no harm. He must, of course, 
however, first consult the King of France." Cifu- 
entes not liking the mention of France, the Pope 
went on maliciously to say that, if he had not gone to 
Marseilles, France would certainly have broken with 
the Church, as England had done, and would have set 
up a Patriarchate of its own. Indeed he was afraid 
it might yet come to that. The King of France had 
told him how he had been pressed to consent, and had 
made a merit of refusing. Cifuentes could but re- 
mark on the singular character of the King of 
France's religious convictions. 1 

1 Cifuentes to Charles V., June 6, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
pp. 174 et seq. 



Humours of Anne Boleyn. 279 

The embassy was not sent to England, and the Pope 
kept back his invocation of the secular arm till a 
Prince could be found who would act. No one would 
be the first to move, and the meeting of the two Kings 
at Calais was indefinitely postponed. Francis com- 
plained of Henry's arbitrary manner, "speaking to 
me at times as if I were his subject." The explana- 
tion given to the world of the abandonment of the in- 
terview was that Henry found it inconvenient to leave 
the realm. A letter of Chapuys explains where the 
special inconvenience lay. The Lady Anne would be 
Regent in his absence, and could not be trusted in 
her present humour. "I have received word from a 
trustworthy source," he wrote on the 23d of June to 
the Emperor, "that the concubine has said more than 
once, and with great assurance, that the moment the 
King crosses the Channel to the interview, and she is 
left Regent, she will put the Princess to death by 
sword or otherwise. Her brother, Lord Rochford, 
telling her she would offend the King, she answered 
she cared not if she did. She woidd do it if she was 
burnt or flayed alive afterwards. The Princess knows 
her danger, but it gives her no concern. She puts 
her trust in God." 

Imperfect credit must be given to stories set current 
by malicious credulity. But the existence of such 
stories shows the reputation which Anne had earned 
for herself, and which in part she deserves. Chapuys 
reiterated his warnings. 

"Pardon my importunity," he continued, "but, 
unless your Majesty looks promptly to it, things will 
be past remedy. Lutheranism spreads fast, and the 
King calculates that it will make the people stand by 
him and will gain the Germans. So long as danger 
is not feared from without, Parliament will agree to 



280 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

all that he wishes. Were your Majesty even to over- 
look all that he has done, he would persist in the same 
way. Good Catholics are of opinion that the readiest 
way to bridle France and Germany is to begin in 
England. It can be done with ease. The people 
only wait for your Majesty to give the signal." 1 

The inaction of the Emperor was incomprehensible 
to Catherine's friends. To herself it was distracting. 
She had fed upon the hope that when the Pope had 
given judgment her trial would be at an end; that the 
voice of Catholic Europe would compel the King to 
submit. The Roman lightning had flashed, but the 
thunderbolt had not fallen. The English laity, long 
waiting in suspense, had begun to think, as Chapuys 
feared they would, that the Pope was the shadow, and 
Cranmer the substance. Cut off from the world, she 
thought she was forsaken, or that the Emperor's care 
for her would not carry him to the point of interfer- 
ence. If no voice was raised in her favour in her 
own Spain, the Spanish Ambassador might at least 
show that her countrymen had not forgotten her. 
She sent pressing messages to Chapuys, begging him 
to visit her; and Chapuys, impatient himself of his 
master's hesitating policy, resolved to go. He ap- 
plied for permission to the Council. It was refused. 
But the Council could not forbid his making a sum- 
mer pilgrimage to our Lady of Walsingham, and the 
road lay near Kimbolton. He wrote to Cromwell 
that, leave or no leave, he was going into Norfolk, 
and meant to call there. The porters might refuse 
him entrance if they pleased. He gave him fair no- 
tice. It should not be said that he had acted under- 
hand. 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., June .23, 1534. Abridged. — Spanish Cal- 
endar, vol. v, pp, 198-99, 



Visit of Chapuys to Kimbolton. 281 

It was the middle of July. Making as much dis- 
play as possible, with a retinue of sixty horse, and ac- 
companied by a party of Spaniards resident in London, 
the Ambassador rode ostentatiously through the City, 
and started on the great North Road. Spending a 
night on the way, he arrived on the second evening 
within a few miles of Catherine's residence. At this 
point he was overtaken by two gentlemen of the house- 
hold, with an intimation that he would not be admit- 
ted. He demanded to see their orders, and, the or- 
ders not being produced, he said that, being so near 
the end of his journey, he did not mean to turn back. 
He would have persisted, but a message came to him 
from the Queen herself, or from one of her people, to 
say that she could not receive him ; he coidd proceed 
to Walsingham if he pleased, but he must not ap- 
proach within bowshot of the Castle. Some peremp- 
tory command must have reached her. A second se- 
cret message followed, that, although she had not 
dared to say so, she was grateful for his visit ; and, 
though he must not come on himself, a party of his 
suite might show themselves before the gates. 

Thus the next morning, under the bright July sky, 
a picturesque Spanish cavalcade was seen parading 
under the windows of Kimbolton, "to the great conso- 
lation of the ladies of the household, who spoke to 
them from the battlements; and with astonishment 
and joy among the peasantry, as if the Messiah had 
actually come." The Walsingham pilgrimage was 
abandoned, lest it should be thought to have been the 
real object of the journey ; and Chapuys, with polite 
irony, sent the King word that he had relinquished it 
in deference to his Majesty's wishes. He returned to 
London by another road, to make a wider impression 
upon the people. 



282 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

"The Emperor," he said, in relating his expedition, 
"would now see how matters stood. The Queen might 
be almost called the King's prisoner. The house," 
he said, "was well kept and well found, though there 
were complaints of shortness of provisions. She had 
five or six servants, and as many ladies-in-waiting, be- 
sides the men whom she looked on as her guards." 1 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., July 27, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
pp. 219-20. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Prosecution of Lord Dacre — Failure of the Crown — Rebellion in Ire- 
land — Lord Thomas Fitzgerald — Delight of the Catholic party — 
Preparations for a rising in England — The Princess Mary — Lord 
Hussey and Lord Darcy — Schemes for insurrection submitted to 
Chapuys — General disaffection among the English Peers — Death 
of Clement VII. — Election of Paul III. —Expectation at Rome 
that Henry would now submit — The expectation disappointed — 
The Act of Supremacy — The Italian conjuror — Reginald Pole — 
Violence and insolence of Anne Boleyn — Spread of Lutheranism — 
Intended escape of the Princess Mary out of England. 

The English Peers are supposed to have been the 
servile instruments of Henry VIII. 's tyrannies and 
caprices, to have been ready to divorce or murder a 
wife, or to execute a bishop, as it might please the 
King to command. They were about to show that 
there were limits to their obedience, and that when 
they saw occasion they could assert their independence. 
Lord Dacre of Naworth was one of the most powerful 
of the northern nobles. He had distinguished himself 
as a supporter of Queen Catherine, and was particularly 
detested by the Lady Anne. His name appears prom- 
inently in the lists supplied to Chapuys of those who 
could be counted upon in the event of a rising. The 
Government had good reason, therefore, to watch him 
with anxiety. As Warden of the Marches he had 
been in constant contact with the Scots, and a Scotch 
invasion in execution of the Papal censures had been 
part of Chapuys's scheme. Dacre was suspected of 



284 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

underhand dealings with the Scots. He had been 
indicted at Carlisle for treason in June, and had been 
sent to London for trial. He was brought to the bar 
before the Peers, assisted by the twelve Judges. An 
escape of a prisoner was rare when the Crown prose- 
cuted; the Privy Council prepared the evidence, drew 
up their case, and in bringing a man to the bar made 
themselves responsible for the charge; failure, there- 
fore, was equivalent to a vote of censure. The prose- 
cution of Dacre had been set on foot by Cromwell, who 
had perhaps been informed of particulars of his conduct 
which it was undesirable to bring forward. The Peers 
looked on Cromwell as another Wolsey — as another 
intruding commoner who was taking liberties with 
the ancient blood. The Lady Anne was supposed to 
have borne malice against Dacre. The Lady Anne 
was to be made to know that there were limits to her 
power. Dacre spoke for seven hours to a sympa- 
thetic court; he was unanimously acquitted, and the 
City of London celebrated his escape with bonfires 
and illuminations. The Court had received a sharp 
rebuff. Norfolk, who sate as High Steward, had to 
accept a verdict of which he alone disapproved. 1 At 
Rome the acquittal was regarded as perhaps the begin- 
ning of some commotion with which God was prepar- 
ing to punish the King of England. 2 

More serious news arrived from Ireland. While 
the English Catholics were muttering discontent and 
waiting for foreign help, Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, 
"the youth of promise" whom Chapuys had recom- 
mended to Charles's notice, had broken into open 
rebellion, and had forsworn his allegiance to Henry 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., July 27, 1534. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. vii. p. 389. 

2 Cifuentes to Charles V., Aug. 1, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 229. 



Irish Rebellion. 285 

as an excommunicated sovereign. Fitzgerald was a 
ferocious savage, but his crimes were committed in the 
name of religion. In my history of this rebellion 
I connected it with the sacred cause of More and 
Fisher, and was severely rebuked for my alleged un- 
fairness. The fresh particulars here to be mentioned 
prove that I was entirely right, that the rising in Ire- 
land was encouraged by the same means, was part of 
the same conspiracy, that it was regarded at Rome 
and by the Papal party everywhere as the first blow 
struck in a holy war. 

It commenced with the murder of the Archbishop 
of Dublin, a feeble old man, who was dragged out of 
his bed and slaughtered by Fitzgerald's own hand. It 
spread rapidly through the English Pale, and Cha- 
puys recorded its progress with delight. The English 
had been caught unprepared. Skeffington, the Dep- 
uty, was a fool. Ireland, in Chapuys's opinion, was 
practically recovered to the Holy See, and with the 
smallest assistance from the Emperor and the Pope 
the heretics and all their works would be made an 

end of there. 1 

A fortnight later he wrote still more enthusiastically. 
Kildare's son was absolute master of the island. He 
had driven the King to ask for terms; he had re- 
fused to listen, and was then everywhere expelling the 
English or else killing them. 

The pleasure felt by all worthy people, Chapuys 
said, was incredible. Such a turn of events was a 
good beginning for a settlement in England, and the 
Catholic party desired his Majesty most passionately 
not to lose the opportunity. On all sides the Ambas- 
sador was besieged with entreaties. "An excellent 

i Chapuys to Charles V., Aug. 11, 1534. - Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
pp. 243-4. 



286 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

nobleman had met him by appointment in the coun- 
try, and had assured him solemnly that the least move 
on the Emperor's part would end the matter." The 
Irish example had ''fired all their hearts. They were 
longing to follow it." 

As this intelligence might fail to rouse Charles, the 
Ambassador again added as a further reason for haste 
that the Queen and Princess were in danger of losing 
their lives. Cromwell had been heard to say that 
their deaths would end all quarrels. Lord Wiltshire 
had said the same, and the fear was that when Parlia- 
ment reassembled the ladies might be brought to trial 
under the statute. 1 

If Cromwell and Lord Wiltshire used the words 
ascribed to them, no evil purpose need have been im- 
plied or intended. Catherine was a confirmed inva- 
lid; the Princess Mary had just been attacked with 
an alarming illness. Chapuys had dissuaded Mary 
at last from making fresh quarrels with her governess ; 
she had submitted to the indignities of her situation 
with reluctant patience, and had followed unresist- 
ingly in the various removals of Elizabeth's establish- 
ment. The irritation, however, had told on her 
health, and at the time of Chapuys 's conversation 
with the "excellent nobleman" her life was supposed 
to be in danger from ordinary causes. That Anne 
wished her dead was natural enough; Anne had re- 
cently been again disappointed, and had disappointed 
the King in the central wish of his heart. She had 
said she was enceinte, but the signs had passed off. 
It was rumoured that Henry's feelings were cooling 
towards her. He had answered, so Court scandal 
said, to some imperious message of hers that she ought 
to be satisfied with what he had done for her; were 
1 Chapuys to Charles V., Aug. 29, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, p. 250. 



The Princess Mary. 287 

things to begin again he would not do as much. Re- 
port said also that there were nouvelles amours ; but, 
as the alleged object of the King's attention was a 
lady devoted to Queen Catherine, the amour was prob- 
ably innocent. The Ambassador built little upon 
this; Anne's will to injure the Princess he knew to 
be boundless, and he believed her power over Henry 
still to be great. Mary herself had sent him word 
that she had discovered practices for her destruction. 

Any peril to which she might be exposed would ap- 
proach her, as Chapuys was obliged to confess, from 
one side only. He ascertained that "when certain 
members of the Council had advised harsh measures 
to please the Lady Anne," the King had told them 
that he would never consent, and no one at the Court 
— neither the Lady nor any other person — dared 
speak against the Princess. "The King loved her," 
so Cromwell said, "a hundred times more than his 
latest born." The notion that the statute was to be 
enforced against her life was a chimera of malice. In 
her illness he showed the deepest anxiety ; he sent his 
own physician to attend on her, and he sent for her 
mother's physician from Kimbolton. Chapuys ad- 
mitted that he was naturally kind — "d'aymable et 
cordiale nature " — that his daughter's death would be 
a serious blow to himself, however welcome to Anne 
and to politicians, and that, beyond his natural feel- 
ing, he was conscious that, occurring under the pres- 
ent circumstances, it would be a stain on his reputa- 
tion. 

More than once Henry had interfered for Mary's 
protection. He had perhaps heard of what Anne had 
threatened to do to her on his proposed journey to 
Calais. She had been the occasion, at any rate, of 
sharp differences between them. He had resented, 



288 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

when he discovered it, the manner in which she had 
been dragged to the More, and had allowed her, when 
staying there, to be publicly visited by the ladies and 
gentlemen of the court, to the Lady's great annoyance. 
Nay, Mary had been permitted to refuse to leave her 
room when Anne had sent for her, and the strictest 
orders had been given through Cromwell that anyone 
who treated her disrespectfully should be severely pun- 
ished. 1 

True as all this might be, however, Chapuys's feel- 
ings towards the King were not altered, his fears di- 
minished, or his desire less eager to bring about a re- 
bellion and a revolution. Lord Thomas Fitzgerald's 
performances in Ireland were spurring into energy 
the disaffected in England. The nobleman to whom 
Chapuys had referred was Lord Hussey of Lincoln- 
shire, who had been Chamberlain to the Princess 
Mary when she had an establishment of her own as 
next in succession to the crown. Lord Hussey was a 
dear friend of her mother's. Having opened the 
ground he again visited the Ambassador "in utmost 
secrecy." He told him that he and all the honest 
men in the realm were much discouraged by the Em- 
peror's delay to set things straight, as it was a thing 
which coidd so easily be done. The lives of the 
Queen and Princess were undoubtedly threatened; 
their cause was God's cause, which the Emperor was 
bound to uphold, and the English people looked to 
him as their natural sovereign. Chapuys replied that 
if the Emperor was to do as Lord Hussey desired, he 
feared that an invasion of England would cause much 
hurt and suffering to many innocent people. Lord 
Hussey was reputed a wise man. Chapuys asked him 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Oct. 24, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
pp. 294 et seq. 



Disaffection of English Catholics. 289 

what would lie do himself if he were in the Emperor's 
place. Lord Hussey answered that the state of Eng- 
land was as well known to Chapuys as to himself. 
Almost everyone was looking for help to the Emperor. 
There was no fear of his injuring the people ; their in- 
dignation was so great that there would be no resist- 
ance. The war would be over as soon as it was begun. 
The details, he said, Lord Darcy would explain better 
than he could do. The Emperor should first issue a 
declaration. The people would then take arms, and 
would be joined by the nobles and the clergy. 

Fisher had used the same language. Fisher was in 
the Tower, and no longer accessible. Lord Darcy of 
Templehurst has been already seen in drawing the in- 
dictment against Wolsey. He was an old crusader; 
he had served under Ferdinand and Isabella, was a 
Spaniard in sympathy, and was able, as he repre- 
sented, to bring eight thousand men into the field 
from the northern counties. On Lord Hussey' s rec- 
ommendation Chapuys sent a confidential servant to 
Darcy, who professed himself as zealous as his friend. 
Darcy said that he was as loyal as any man, but 
things were going on so outrageously, especially in 
matters of religion, that he, for one, could not bear 
it longer. In the north there were six hundred lords 
and gentlemen who thought as he did. Measures were 
about to be taken in Parliament to favour the Lu- 
therans. He was going himself into Yorkshire, where 
he intended to commence an opposition. If the Em- 
peror would help him he woidd take the field behind 
the crucifix, and would raise the banner of Castile. 
Measures might be concerted with the Scots ; a Scotch 
army might cross the border as soon as he had himself 
taken arms; an Imperial squadron should appear sim- 
ultaneously at the mouth of the Thames, and a battal- 



290 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

ion of soldiers from Flanders should be landed at 
Hull, with arms and money for the poorer gentlemen. 
He and the northern lords would supply their own 
forces. Many of the other Peers, he said, entirely 
agreed with him. He named especially Lord Derby 
and Lord Dacre. 1 

This letter is of extreme importance, as explaining 
the laws which it was found necessary to pass in the 
ensuing Parliament. A deeply rooted and most dan- 
gerous conspiracy was actively forming — how danger- 
ous the Pilgrimage of Grace afterwards proved — in 
which Darcy and Hussey were the principal leaders. 
The Government was well served. The King and 
Cromwell knew more than it was prudent to publish. 
The rebellion meditated was the more formidable be- 
cause it was sanctified by the name of religion, with 
the avowed purpose of executing the Papal Brief. 
Fitzgerald's rising in Ireland was but the first drop- 
ping of a storm designed to be universal. Half the 
Peers who surrounded Henry's person, and voted in 
Parliament for the reforming statutes, were at heart 
leagued with his enemies. He had a right to impose 
a test of loyalty on them, and force them to declare 
whether they were his subjects or the Pope's. 

For a moment it seemed as if the peril might pass 
over. It became known in England in October that 
Clement VII. had ended his pontificate, and that Car- 
dinal Farnese reigned in his stead as Paul III. On 
Clement's death the King, according to Chapuys, had 
counted on a schism in the Church, and was disap- 
pointed at the facility with which the election had 
been carried through; but Farnese had been on Hen- 
ry's side in the divorce case, and the impression in the 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Sept. 30, 1534. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. vii. p. 466; Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 608. 



Accession of Paul III. 291 

English Council was that the quarrel with Rome 
would now be composed. The Duke of Norfolk, who 
had been the loudest in his denunciations of Clement, 
was of the opinion that the King, as a Catholic Prince, 
would submit to his successor. Even Cromwell laid 
the blame of the rupture on Clement personally, and 
when he heard that he was gone, exclaimed that "the 
Great Devil was dead." Henry knew better than his 
Minister that "the Great Devil" was not this or that 
pontiff, but the Papacy itself. He had liberated his 
kingdom ; he did not mean to lead it back into bond- 
age. "Let no man, " he said to Norfolk, "try to 
persuade me to such a step. I shall account no 
more of the Pope than of any priest in my realm." 1 
Farnese undoubtedly expected that Henry would make 
advances to him, and was prepared to meet them ; he 
told Casalis that he had taken a legal opinion as to 
whether his predecessor's judgment in the divorce case 
could be reopened, and a decision given in the King's 
favour ; the lawyers had assured him that there would 
been no difficulty, and the Pope evidently wished the 
King to believe that he might now have his way if he 
would place himself in the Pope's hands. Henry, 
however, was too wary to be caught. He must have 
deeds, not words, he said. If the Pope was sincere 
he would revoke his predecessor's sentence of his 
own accord. Francis, by whose influence Farnese had 
been elected, tried to bring Henry to submission, but 
to no purpose. The King was no longer to be moved 
by vague phrases like those to which he had once 
trusted to his cost. Surrounded by treachery though 
he knew himself to be, he looked no longer for pal- 
liatives and compromises, and went straight on upon 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Oct. 13, 1534. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 279. 



292 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

his way. The House of Commons was with him, 
growing in heartiness at each succeeding session. The 
Peers and clergy might conspire in secret. In public, 
as estates of the realm, they were too cowardly to 
oppose. 

Parliament met in November. The other Acts 
which were passed by it this year are relatively unim- 
portant, and maybe read elsewhere. The great busi- 
ness of the session, which has left its mark on history, 
was to pass the Act of Supremacy, detailing and ex- 
plaining the meaning of the title which Convocation 
two years previously had conferred upon the King. 
Unentangled any longer with saving clauses, the sov- 
ereign authority under the law in all causes, ecclesi- 
astical and civil, was declared to rest thenceforward 
in the Crown, and the last vestiges of Roman juris- 
diction in England were swept off and disappeared. 
No laws, no injunctions, no fancied rights over the 
consciences of English subjects were to be pleaded 
further as a rule to their conduct which had not been 
sanctioned by Crown and Parliament. No clergy, 
English or foreign, were to exercise thenceforward 
any power not delegated to them and limited under 
the law of the land, except what could not be taken 
from them — their special privilege of administering 
the sacraments. Double loyalty to the Crown and to 
the Papacy was thenceforward impossible. The Pope 
had attempted to depose the King. The Act of Su- 
premacy was England's answer. 

But to enact a law was not enough. With Ireland 
in insurrection, with half the nobles and more than 
half the clergy, regular and secular, in England invit- 
ing a Spanish invasion, the King and Commons, who 
were in earnest in carrying through the reforms which 
they had begun, were obliged to take larger measures 



The Act of Supremacy. 293 

to distinguish their friends from their enemies. If 
the Catholics had the immense majority to which they 
pretended, the Constitution gave them the power of le- 
gitimate opposition. If they were professing with their 
lips and sustaining with their votes a course of policy 
which they were plotting secretly to overthrow, it was 
fair and right to compel them to show their true col- 
ours. Therefore the Parliament further enacted that 
to deny the royal supremacy — in other words, to 
maintain the right of the Pope to declare the King 
deprived — - should be high treason, and the Act was 
so interpreted that persons who were open to suspi- 
cion might be interrogated, and that a refusal to an- 
swer should be accepted as an acknowledgment of 
guilt. In quiet times such a measure would be un- 
necessary, and therefore tyrannical. Facta arguan- 
tur dicta impune sint. In the face of Chapuys's 
correspondence it will hardly be maintained that the 
reforming Government of Henry VIII. was in no dan- 
ger. The Statute of Supremacy must be judged by 
the reality of the peril which it was designed to meet. 
If the Reformation was a crime, the laws by which it 
defended itself were criminal along with it. If the 
Reformation was the dawning of a new and brilliant 
era for Imperial England, if it was the opening of a 
fountain from which the English genius has flowed 
out over the wide surface of the entire globe, the men 
who watched over its early trials and enabled the 
movement to advance, undishonoured and undisfig- 
ured by civil war, deserve rather to be respected for 
their resolution than reviled as arbitrary despots. To 
try the actions of statesmen in a time of high national 
peril by the canons of an age of tranquillity is the 
highest form of historical injustice. 

The naked truth — and nakedness is not always 



294 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

indecent — was something of this kind. A marriage 
with a brother's wife was forbidden by the universal 
law of Christendom. Kings, dukes, and other great 
men who disposed as they pleased of the hands of their 
sons and daughters, found it often desirable, for po- 
litical or domestic reasons, to form connections which 
the law prohibited, and therefore they maintained an 
Italian conjuror who professed to be able for a con- 
sideration to turn wrong into right. To marriages so 
arranged it was absurd to attach the same obligations 
as belonged to unions legitimately contracted. If, as 
often happened, such marriages turned out ill, the 
same conjuror who could make could unmake. This 
function, also, he was repeatedly called on to exer- 
cise, and, for a consideration also, he was usually 
compliant. The King of England had been married 
as a boy to Catherine of Aragon, carrying out an 
arrangement between their respective fathers. The 
marriage had failed in the most important object for 
which royal marriages are formed: there was no male 
heir to the crown, nor any prospect of one. Henry, 
therefore, as any other prince in Europe would have 
done, applied to the Italian for assistance. The con- 
juror was willing, confessing that the case was one 
where his abilities might properly be employed. But 
another of his supporters interfered, and forced him 
to refuse. The King of England had always paid his 
share for the conjuror's maintenance. He was vio- 
lently deprived of a concession which it was admitted 
that he had a right to claim. But for the conjuror's 
pretensions to make the unlawful lawful he would not 
have been in the situation in which he found himself. 
What could be more natural than that, finding him- 
self thus treated, he should begin to doubt whether 
the conjuror, after all, had the power of making wrong 



Reginald Pole. 295 

into right? whether the marriage had not been wrong 
from the beginning? And, when the magical artist 
began to curse, as his habit was when doubts were 
thrown on his being the Vicar of the Almighty, what 
could be more natural also than to throw him and his 
tackle out of window? :_ 

The passing of the Act increased the anxiety about 
the position of the Princess Mary. In the opinion of 
most reasonable persons her claim to the succession was 
superior to that of Elizabeth, and, if she had sub- 
mitted to her father, it would probably have been al- 
lowed and established. In the eyes of the disaffected, 
however, she was already, by Clement's sentence, the 
legitimate possessor of the throne. Reginald Pole, 
Lady Salisbury's son and grandson of the Duke of 
Clarence, was still abroad. Henry had endeavoured 
to gain him over, but had not succeeded. He was of 
the blood of the White Rose, and, with his brother, 
had gone by instinct into opposition. His birth, in 
those days of loyalty to race, gave him influence in 
England, and Catherine, as has been seen, had fixed 
upon him as Mary's husband. He had been brought 
already under Charles's notice as likely to be of use 
in the intended rebellion. The Queen, wrote Cha- 
puys to the Emperor, knew no one to whom she would 
better like her daughter to be married; many right- 
minded people held that the right to the crown lay in 
the family of the Duke of Clarence, Edward's chil- 
dren having been illegitimate ; if the Emperor would 
send an army across with Lord Reginald attached to 
it everyone would declare for him ; his younger bro- 
ther Geoffrey was a constant visitor to himself; once 
more he insisted that nothing could be more easy than 
the conquest of the whole kingdom. 1 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Nov. 3, 1534.— Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
emstic, vol. vii. p. 519, 



296 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

The object with Chapuys was now to carry Mary 
abroad, partly that she might be married to Pole, 
partly for her own security. Notwithstanding the 
King's evident care for her health and good treatment 
he could not look into the details of her daily life, 
and Anne was growing daily more dangerous. Both 
Catherine and the Princess had still many friends 
among the ladies of the Court. To one of these, young 
and beautiful — and, therefore, certainly not the plain 
Jane Seymour — the King was supposed to have paid 
attentions. Like another lady who had been men- 
tioned previously, she was devoted to Catherine's in- 
terests, and obviously not, therefore, a pretender to 
Henry's personal affections. Anne had affected to be 
jealous, and under other aspects had reason for uneasi- 
ness. She had demanded this lady's dismissal from 
the court, and had been so violent that "the King had 
left her in displeasure, complaining of her importunacy 
and vexatiousness." The restoration of Mary to fa- 
vour was a constant alarm to Anne, and she had a 
party of her own which had been raised by her pat- 
ronage, depended on her influence, and was ready to 
execute her pleasure. Thus the petty annoyances of 
which both Catherine and her daughter complained 
were not discontinued. The household at Kimbolton 
was reduced ; a confidential maid who had been useful 
in the Queen's correspondence was discovered and dis- 
missed. Mary was left under the control of Mrs. 
Shelton, who dared not openly displease Anne. It 
was Anne that Chapuys blamed. 

Anne hated the Princess. The King had a real 
love for her. In her illness he had been studiously 
kind. When told it had been caused by mental 
trouble he said, with a sigh, "that it was pity her ob- 
stinacy should prevent him from treating her as he 



Attitude of English Peers. 297 

wished and as she deserved. The case was the harder, 
as he knew that her conduct had been dictated by her 
mother, and he was therefore obliged to keep them sep- 
arate." 1 

The Privy Councillors appear to have remonstrated 
with Anne on her behaviour to Mary. Passionate 
scenes, at any rate, had occurred between her and 
Henry's principal Ministers. She spoke to her uncle, 
the Duke of Norfolk, in terms "which would not be 
used to a dog." Norfolk left the room in indigna- 
tion, muttering that she was a "grande putaine." 
The malcontents increased daily and became bolder in 
word and action. Lord Northumberland, Anne's 
early lover, of whom Darcy had been doubtful, pro- 
fessed now to be so disgusted with the malice and 
arrogance of the Lady that he, too, looked to the Em- 
peror's coming as the only remedy. Lord Sandys, 
Henry's chamberlain, withdrew to his house, pretend- 
ing sickness, and sent Chapuys a message that the 
Emperor had the hearts of the English people, and, 
at the least motion which the Emperor might make, 
the realm would be in confusion. 2 The news from 
Fitzgerald was less satisfactory. His resources were 
failing, and he wanted help, but he was still standing 
out. England, however, was more and more sure; 
the northern counties were unanimous, in the south 
and west the Marquis of Exeter and the Poles were 
superior to any force which could be brought against 
them; the spread of Lutheranism was creating more 
exasperation than even the divorce. Moderate men 
had hoped for an arrangement with the new Pope. 
Instead of it, the heretical preachers were more vio- 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 19, 1534. —Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 343. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 14, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol, viii. p. 14. 



298 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

lent than ever, and the King was believed to have en- 
couraged them. Dr. Brown, an Augustinian friar, 
and General of the Mendicant Order, who, as some 
believed, had married the King and Anne, had dared 
to maintain in a sermon "that the Bishops and all 
others who did not burn the Bulls which they had re- 
ceived from the Pope, and obtain others from the 
King, deserved to be punished. Their authority was 
derived from the King alone. Their sacred chrism 
would avail them nothing while they obeyed the Idol 
of Rome, who was a limb of the Devil." 

"Language so abominable," said Chapuys, in re- 
porting it, "must have been prompted by the King, 
or else by Cromwell, who made the said monk his right 
hand in all things unlawful; " Cromwell and Cranmer 
being of Luther's opinion that there was no difference 
between priests and bishops, save what the letters 
patent of the Crown might constitute. "Cromwell," 
Chapuys said, "had been feeling his way with some 
of the Bench on the subject." At a meeting of Coun- 
cil he had asked Gardiner and others whether the 
King could not make and unmake bishops at his plea- 
sure. They were obliged to answer that he could, to 
save their benefices. 1 

Outrages so flagrant had shocked beyond longer en- 
durance the Conservative mind of England. Darcy, 
at the beginning of the new year (a year which, as he 
hoped, was to witness an end to them), sent Chapuys 
a present of a sword, as an indication that the time was 
come for sword-play. 2 Let the Emperor send but a 
little money ; let a proclamation be drawn in his name 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 28, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. viii. p. 38. 

2 " Veuillant denoter par icelle, pnisque n'a raoyen de m'envoyer 
dire securement, que la saison sera propice pour jouer des cousteaulx." 
— Ibid, Jan. 1, p. 1 ; and MS. Vienna, 



Hesitation of the Emperor. 299 

that the nation was in arms for the cause of God and 
the Queen, the comfort of the people, and the restor- 
ation of order and justice, and a hundred thousand 
men would rush to the field. The present was the 
propitious moment. If action was longer delayed it 
might be too late. 1 

To the enthusiastic and the eager the cause which 
touches themselves the nearest seems always the most 
important in the world. Charles V. had struggled 
long to escape the duty which the Pope and destiny 
appeared to be combining to thrust upon him. With 
Germany unsettled, with the Turks in Hungary, with 
Barbarossa's corsair-fleet commanding the Mediterra- 
nean and harassing the Spanish coast, with another 
French war visibly ahead, and a renewed invasion of 
Italy, Charles was in no condition to add Henry to 
the number of his enemies. Chapuys and Darcy, 
Fisher and Reginald Pole allowed passion to persuade 
them that the English King was Antichrist in person, 
the centre of all the disorder which disturbed the 
world. All else could wait, but the Emperor must 
first strike down Antichrist and then the rest would 
be easy. Charles was wiser than they, and could bet- 
ter estimate the danger of what he was called on to 
undertake; but he could not shut his ears entirely 
to entreaties so reiterated. Before anything could be 
done, however, means would have to be taken to se- 
cure the persons of the Queen and Princess — of the 
Princess especially, as she would be in most danger. 
So far he had discouraged her escape when it had been 
proposed to him, since, were she once in his hands, he 
had thought that war could no longer be avoided. 
He now allowed Chapuys to try what he coidd do to 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 28, 1535, — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. viii. p. 38. 



300 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

get her out of the country, and meanwhile to report 
more particularly on the landing of an invading force. 
The escape itself presented no great difficulty. The 
Princess was generally at the Palace at Greenwich. 
Her friends would let her out at night; an armed 
barge could be waiting off the walls, and a Flemish 
man-of-war might be ready at the Nore, of size suffi- 
cient to beat off boats that might be sent in pursuit. 
Should she be removed elsewhere the enterprise would 
not be so easy. In the event of an insurrection while 
she was still in the realm, Chapuys said the first step 
of the Lords would be to get possession of her mother 
and Mary. If they failed, the King would send them 
to the Tower : but in the Tower they would be out of 
danger, as the Constable, Sir William Kingston, was 
their friend. In any case he did not believe that 
hurt would be done them, the King feeling that, if 
war did break out, they would be useful as mediators, 
like the wife and mother of Coriolanus. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Prospects of civil war — England and Spain — Illness of the Princess 
Mary — Plans for her escape — Spirit of Queen Catherine — The 
Emperor unwilling to interfere — Negotiations for a new treaty be- 
tween Henry and Charles — Debate in the Spanish Council of State 
— The rival alliances — Disappointment of the confederate Peers — 
Advance of Lutheranism in England — Cromwell and Chapuys — 
Catherine and Mary the obstacles to peace — Supposed designs on 
Mary's life. 

England, to all appearance, was now on the eve 
of a bloody and desperate war. The conspirators 
were confident of success; but conspirators associate 
exclusively with persons of their own opinions, and 
therefore seldom judge accurately of the strength of 
their opponents. Chapuys and his friends had been 
equally confident about Ireland. Fitzgerald was now 
a fugitive, and the insurrection was burning down; 
yet the struggle before Henry would have been at least 
as severe as had been encountered by his grandfather 
Edward, and the country itself would have been torn 
to pieces; one notable difference only there was in the 
situation — that the factions of the Roses had begun 
the battle of themselves, without waiting for help from 
abroad; the reactionaries under Henry VIII., con- 
fessedly, were afraid to stir without the avowed sup- 
port of the Emperor; and Charles, when the question 
came seriously before him, could not have failed to 
ask himself why, if they were as strong as they pre- 



302 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

tended, and the King's party as weak as they said it 
was, they endured what they could easily prevent. 

These reflections naturally presented themselves 
both to the Emperor and to the Spanish Council when 
they had to decide on the part which they would take. 
If what Chapuys represented as a mere demonstration 
should turn into serious war, England and France 
would then unite in earnest ; they would combine with 
Germany; and Europe would be shaken with a con- 
vulsion of which it was impossible to foresee the end. 
The decision was momentous, and Charles paused be- 
fore coming to a resolution. Weeks passed, and Cha- 
puys could have no positive answer, save that he was 
to give general encouragement to the Queen's friends, 
and let them know that the Emperor valued their 
fidelity. Weary of his hesitation, and hoping to 
quicken his resolution, Catherine sent Chapuys word 
that the Princess was to be forced to swear to the Act 
of Supremacy, and that, on her refusal, she was to be 
executed or imprisoned for life. Catherine wrote 
what she, perhaps, believed, but could not know. 
But the suspense was trying, and the worst was natu- 
rally looked for. News came that English sailors had 
been burnt by the Inquisition at Seville as heretics. 
Cromwell observed to Chapuys that "he had heard 
the Emperor was going to make a conquest of the 
realm." The Ambassador had the coolness to as sure 
him that he was dreaming; and that such an enter- 
prise had never been thought of. Cromwell knew 
better. He had learnt, for one thing, of the plans 
for Mary's escape. He knew what that would mean, 
and he had, perhaps, prevented it. The project had 
been abandoned for the moment. Instead of escaping, 
she had shown symptoms of the same dangerous illness 
by which she had been attacked before. There was 



Illness of the Princess Mary. 303 

the utmost alarm, and, as a pregnant evidence of the 
condition of men's minds, the physicians refused to 
prescribe for her, lest, if she died, they should be sus- 
pected of having poisoned her. The King's physician 
declined. Queen Catherine's physician declined — 
unless others were called in to assist — and the unfor- 
tunate girl was left without medical help, in imminent 
likelihood of death, because every one felt that her 
dying at such a time would be set down to foul play. 
The King sent for Chapuys and begged that he would 
select a doctor, or two doctors, of eminence to act with 
his own. Chapuys, with polite irony, replied that it 
was not for him to make a selection ; the King must 
be better acquainted than he could be with the reputa- 
tion of the London physicians; and the Emperor 
would be displeased if he showed distrust of his Maj- 
esty's care for his child. Cromwell, who was present, 
desired that if the Princess grew worse Chapuys woidd 
allow one of his own people to be with her. Henry 
continued to express his grief at her sufferings. 
Some members of the Council "had not been 
ashamed to say " that as men could find no means of 
reconciling the King with the Emperor, God might 
open a door by taking the Princess to himself. It 
was a very natural thought. Clement had said the 
same about Catherine. But the aspiration would 
have been better left unexpressed. 1 Chapuys 's sus- 
picions were not removed. He perceived the King's 
anxiety to be unfeigned ; but he detested him too sin- 
cerely to believe that in anything he coidd mean well. 
The Princess recovered. Catherine took advantage of 
the attack to entreat again that her daughter might be 
under her own charge. It was cruel to be obliged to 
refuse. 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 9, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. viii. pp. 68-72. 



304 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Chapuys presented the Queen's request. The 
King, he said, heard him patiently and graciously, 
and, instead of the usual answer that he knew best 
how to provide for his daughter, replied, gently, that 
he woidd do his utmost for the health of the Princess, 
and, since her mother's physician would not assist, he 
would find others. But to let Chapuys understand 
that he was not ignorant of his secret dealings, he 
said he could not forget what was due to his own hon- 
our. The Princess might be carried out of the king- 
dom, or might herself escape. She could easily do it 
if she was left in her mother's charge. He had per- 
ceived some indications, he added significantly, that 
the Emperor wished to have her in his hands. 

Ambassadors have a privilege of lying. Chapuys 
boldly declared that there was no probability of the 
Emperor attempting to carry off the Princess. The 
controversy had lasted five years, and there had been 
no indication of any such purpose. The King said 
that it was Catherine who had made the Princess so 
obstinate. Daughters owed some obedience to their 
mothers, but their first duty was to the father. This 
Chapuys did not dispute, but proposed as an alterna- 
tive that she should reside with her old governess, 
Lady Salisbury. The King said the Countess was a 
foolish woman, and of no experience. 1 

The difficulty was very great. To refuse so natu- 
ral a request was to appear hard and unfeeling ; yet to 
allow Catherine and Mary to be together was to fur- 
nish a head to the disaffection, of the extent of which 
the King was perfectly aware. He knew Catherine, 
and his words about her are a key to much of their 
relations to one another. "She was of such high 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feh. 25, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. viii. p. 100. 



Fresh Appeals to the Emperor. 305 

courage," he said, "that, with her daughter at her 
side, she might raise an army and take the field 
against him with as much spirit as her mother Isa- 
bella." 1 

Catherine of Aragon had qualities with which his- 
tory has not credited her. She was no patient, suf- 
fering saint, but a bold and daring woman, capable, 
if the opportunity was offered her, of making Henry 
repent of what he had done. But would the opportu- 
nity ever come? Charles was still silent. Chapuys 
continued to feed the fire with promises. Granvelle, 
Charles's Minister, might be more persuasive than 
himself. To Granvelle the Ambassador wrote "that 
the Concubine had bribed some one to pretend a reve- 
lation from God that she was not to conceive children 
while the Queen and the Princess were alive. The 
Concubine had sent the man with the message to the 
King, and never ceased [Wolseyhad called Anne 'the 
night crow'] to exclaim that the ladies were rebels 
and traitresses, and deserved to die." 2 

Norfolk, irritated at Anne's insolence to him, with- 
drew from court in ill-humour. He complained to 
Reginald Pole's brother, Lord Montague, that his ad- 
vice was not attended to, and that his niece was intol- 
erable. The Marquis of Exeter regretted to Chapuys 
that the chance had not been allowed him so far to 
shed his blood for the Queen and Princess. "Let 
the movement begin, and he would not be the last to 
join." Mary, notwithstanding the precautions taken 

1 " Car estant la Royne si haultain de coeur, luy venant en fantasye, 
a l'appuy de la faveur de la Princesse, elle se pourroit mettre au champs 
et assembler force des gents et luy faire la guerre aussy hardiment que 
fit la Royne sa mere." Chapuys a l'Empereur, Mar. 23, 1535. — MS. 
Vienna. 

2 Chapuys to Granvelle, March 23, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 432 ; and MS. Vienna. 



306 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

to keep her safe, had not parted with her hope of es- 
cape. If she could not be with her mother she thought 
the Emperor might, perhaps, intercede with the King 
to remove her from under Mrs. Shelton's charge. 
The King might be brought to consent; and then, 
Chapuys said, with a pinnace and two ships in the 
river, she might still be carried off when again at 
Greenwich, as he could find means to get her out of 
the house at any hour of the night. 1 

At length the suspense was at an end, and the long- 
waited-for decision of the Emperor arrived. He had 
considered, he said, the communications of Lord 
Darcy and Lord Sandys; he admitted that the disor- 
ders of England required a remedy; but an armed 
interference was at the present time impossible. 2 It 
was a poor consolation to the English Peers and 
clergy; and there was worse behind. Not only the 
Emperor did not mean to declare war against Henry, 
but, spite of Catherine, spite of excommunication, 
spite of heresy, he intended, if possible, to renew the 
old alliance between England and the House of Bur- 
gundy. Politics are the religion of princes, and if 
they are wise the peace of the world weighs more 
with them than orthodoxy and family contentions. 
Honour, pride, Catholic obligations recommended a 
desperate stroke. Prudence and a higher duty com- 
manded Charles to abstain. Sir John Wallop, the 
English representative at Paris, was a sincere friend 
of Queen Catherine, but was unwilling, for her sake, 
to see her plunge into an insurrectionary whirlpool. 
Viscount Hannart, a Flemish nobleman with English 
connections, was Charles's Minister at the same Court. 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 25, 1534. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. viii. p. 105. 

2 Spanish Calendar, Feb. 20, 1535, vol. v. p. 402, 



Proposed Treaty between Charles and Henry. 307 

Together they discussed the situation of their respec- 
tive countries. Both agreed that a war between 
Henry and the Emperor would be a calamity to man- 
kind ; while in alliance they might hold in check the 
impatient ambition of France. Wallop suggested 
that they might agree by mutual consent to suspend 
their differences on the divorce ; might let the divorce 
pass in silence for future settlement, and be again 
friends. 

The proposal was submitted to the Spanish Council 
of State. The objections to it were the wrongs done, 
and still being done, to the Queen and Princess in the 
face of the Pope's sentence, and the obligations of the 
Emperor to see that sentence enforced. An arrange- 
ment between the Emperor and the King of England 
on the terms suggested would be ill received in Chris- 
tendom, would dispirit the two ladies, and their friends 
in England who had hitherto supported the claims of 
the Princess Mary to the succession ; while it might, 
further, encourage other princes to divorce their wives 
on similar grounds. In favour of a treaty, on the 
other hand, were the notorious designs of the French 
King. France was relying on the support of Eng- 
land. If nothing was done to compose the existing 
differences the King of England might be driven to 
desperate courses. The Faith of the Church would 
suffer. The General Council, so anxiously looked for, 
would be unable to meet. The French King would 
be encouraged to go to war. Both he and the King 
of England would support the German schism, and 
the lives of the Princess and her mother woidd proba- 
bly be sacrificed. A provisional agreement might 
modify the King of England's action, the Church 
mio-ht be saved, the ladies' lives be secured, and 
doubt and distrust be introduced between England 



308 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

and France. The Emperor could then deal with the 
Turks, and other difficulties could be tided over till 
a Council could meet and settle everything. 1 

Chapuys had written so confidently on the strength 
of the insurrectionary party that it was doubted 
whether choice between the alternative courses might 
not better be left for him to decide. Charles, who 
could better estimate the value of the promises of 
disaffected subjects, determined otherwise. The Am- 
bassador, therefore, was informed that war would be 
inconvenient. Lord Darcy's sword must remain in 
the scabbard, and an attempt be made for reconcili- 
ation on the lines suggested by Sir John Wallop. 
Meanwhile, directions were given to the Inquisitors 
at Seville to be less precipitate in their dealings with 
English seamen. 

From the first it had been Cromwell's hope and 
conviction that an open quarrel woidd be escaped. 
The French party in the English Council — Anne 
Boleyn, her family, and friends — had been urging 
the alliance with France, and a general attack on 
Charles's scattered dominions. Cromwell, though a 
Protestant in religion, distrusted an associate who, 
when England was once committed, might make his 
own terms and leave Henry to his fate. In politics 
Cromwell had been consistently Imperialist. He had 
already persuaded the King to allow the Princess to 
move nearer to Kimbolton, where her mother's physi- 
cian could have charge of her. He sent thanks to 
Charles in the King's name for his interference with 
the Holy Office. He left nothing undone to soften 
the friction and prepare for a reconciliation. Cath- 
erine and Mary he perceived to be the only obstacle to 
a return to active friendship. If the broken health of 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, Feb. 26, 1535, vol. viii. p. 106. 



Cromwell and the Treaty. 309 

one, and the acute illness of the other, should have a 
fatal termination, as a politician he could not but feel 
that it would be an obstacle happily removed. 

Chapuys's intrigue with the confederate Peers had 
been continued to the latest moment. All arrange- 
ments had been made for their security when the rising- 
should break out. Darcy himself was daily looking 
for the signal, and begged only for timely notice of 
the issue of the Emperor's manifesto to escape to his 
castle in the north. 1 The Ambassador had now to 
trim his sails on the other tack. The Emperor was 
ready to allow the execution of Clement's sentence to 
stand over till the General Council, without prejudice 
to the rights of parties, provided an engagement was 
made for the respectful treatment of the Queen and 
Princess, and a promise given that their friends should 
be unmolested. To Catherine the disappointment 
was hard to bear. The talk of a treaty was the death- 
knell of the hopes on which she had been feeding. 
A close and confidential intercourse was established 
between Chapuys and Cromwell to discuss the prelim- 
inary conditions, Chapuys, ill liking his work, desir- 
ing to fail, and on the watch for any point on which 
to raise a suspicion. 

The Princess was the first difficulty. Cromwell had 
promised that she should be moved to her mother's 
neighbourhood. She had been sent no nearer than 
Ampthill. Cromwell said that he would do what he 
could, but the subject was disagreeable to the King, 
and he could say no more. He entered at once, how- 
ever, on the King's desire to be again on good terms 
with the Emperor. The King had instructed him to 
discuss the whole situation with Chapuys, and it would 
be unfortunate, he said, if the interests of two women 

1 Spanish Calendar, vol. v. pp. 421-22. 



310 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragofi. 

were allowed to interfere with weighty matters of 
State. The Queen had been more than once seriously 
ill, and her life was not likely to be prolonged. The 
Princess was not likely to live either ; and it did not 
appear that either in Spain or France there was much 
anxiety for material alteration in their present posi- 
tion. Meanwhile, the French were passionately im- 
portuning the King to join in a war against the 
Emperor. Cromwell said that he had been himself op- 
posed to it, and the present moment, when the Em- 
peror was engaged with the Turks, was the last which 
the King would choose for such a purpose. The ob- 
ject to be arrived at was the pacification of Christen- 
dom and the general union of all the leading Powers. 
The King desired it as much as he, and had, so far, 
prevented war from being declared by France. 

It was true that the peace of the world was of more 
importance than the complaints of Catherine and 
Mary. Catherine had rejected a compromise when 
the Emperor himself recommended it, and Mary had 
defied her father and had defied Parliament at her 
mother's bidding. There were limits to the sacrifices 
which they were entitled to demand. Chapuys pro- 
tested against Cromwell's impression that the Euro- 
pean Powers were indifferent. The strongest interest 
was felt in their fate, he said, and many inconven- 
iences would follow should harm befall them. The 
world would certainly believe that they had met with 
foul play. The Emperor would be charged with 
having caused it by neglecting to execute the Pope's 
sentence, and it would be said also that, but for the 
expectations which the Emperor had held out to them 
of defending their cause, they would themselves have 
conformed to the King's wishes; they woidd then have 
been treated with due regard and have escaped their 



Negotiations for the Treaty. 311 

present miseries. Cromwell undertook that the ut- 
most care and vigilance should be observed that hurt 
should not befall them. The Princess, he said, he 
loved as much as Chapuys himself could love her, and 
nothing that he could do for them should be neglected ; 
but the Ambassador and the Emperor's other agents 
were like hawks who soared high to stoop more swiftly 
on their prey. Their object was to have the Princess 
declared next in succession to the crown, and that was 
impossible owing to the late statutes. 

Chapuys reported what had passed to his master, 
but scarcely concealed his contempt for the business 
in which he was engaged. "I cannot tell," he wrote, 
"what sort of a treaty could be made with this King- 
as long as he refuses to restore the Queen and Prin- 
cess, or repair the hurts of the Church and the Faith, 
which grow worse every day. No later than Sunday 
last a preacher raised a question whether the body of 
Christ was contained, or not, in the consecrated wafer. 
Your Majesty may consider whither such propositions 
are tending." 1 

A still more important conversation followed a few 
days later. It can hardly be doubted, in the face of 
Chapuys' s repeated declaration that both Catherine 
and her daughter were in personal danger, that Anne 
Boleyn felt her position always precarious as long as 
they were alive, and refused to acknowledge her mar- 
riage. She perhaps felt that it would go hard with 
herself in the event of a successful insurrection. She 
had urged, as far as she dared, that they should be 
tried under the statute ; but Henry would not allow 
such a proposal to be so much as named to him. 
Other means, however, might be found to make away 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., March 7, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
pp. 413-422. 



312 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

with them, and Sir Arthur Darcy, Lord Darcy's son, 
thought they would be safer in the King's hands in the 
Tower than in their present residence. "The devil 
of a Concubine would never rest till she had gained 
her object." 

The air was thick with these rumours when Cha- 
puys and Cromwell again met. The overtures had 
been commenced by the Emperor. Cromwell said the 
King had given him a statement in writing that he 
was willing to renew his old friendship with the Em- 
peror and make a new treaty with him, if proper safe- 
guards could be provided for his honour and reputa- 
tion; but it was to be understood distinctly that he 
would not permit the divorce question to be reopened ; 
he would rather forfeit his crown and his life than con- 
sent to it, or place himself in subjection to any foreign 
authority; this was his firm resolution, which he de- 
sired Chapuys to make known to the Emperor. 

The Spanish Ministry had been willing that the 
Pope's sentence should be revised by a General Coun- 
cil. Why, Chapuys asked, might not the King con- 
sent also to refer the case to the Council? The King- 
knew that he was right. He had once been willing 
— why should he now refuse? A Council, it had 
been said, would be called by the Pope, and would 
be composed of clergy who were not his friends ; but 
Chapuys would undertake that there should be no 
unfair dealing. Were the Pope and clergy to intend 
harm, all the Princes of Christendom would interfere. 
The Emperor would recommend nothing to which the 
King would not be willing to subscribe. The favour- 
able verdict of a Council would restore peace in Eng- 
land, and would acquit the Emperor's conscience. 
The Emperor, as matters stood, was bound to execute 
the sentence which had been delivered, and could not 



Negotiations for a Treaty. 313 

hold back longer without a hope of the King's sub- 
mission. 

Cromwell admitted the reasonableness of Chapuys's 
suggestion. The Emperor was showing by the ad- 
vances which he had commenced that he desired a 
reconciliation. A Council controlled by the princes 
of Europe might perhaps be a useful instrument. 
Cromwell promised an answer in two days. 

Then, after a pause, he returned to the subject of 
which he had spoken before : — In a matter of so much 
consequence to the world as the good intelligence of 
himself and the King of England, he said that the 
Emperor ought not to hesitate on account of the 
Queen and the Princess. They were but mortal. If 
the Princess was to die, her death would be no great 
misfortune, when the result of it would be the union 
and friendship of the two Princes. 1 He begged Cha- 
puys to think it over when alone and at leisure. He 
then went on to inquire (for Chapuys had not informed 
him that the Emperor had already made up his mind 
to an arrangement) whether the ladies' business might 
not be passed over silently in the new treaty, and 
be left in suspense for the King's life. A General 
Council might meet to consider the other disorders of 
Christendom, or a congress might be held, previously 
appointed jointly by the King and the Emperor, when 
the ladies' rights might be arranged without mystery. 

" II me dit que vostre Majeste* ne se debvoit arrester pour empescher 
ung si inestimable bien que produiroit en toute la Chresteanete" l'union 
et la bonne intelligence dentre vostre Majeste - et le Roi son maistre pour 
l'affaire des Royne et Princesse qui n'estoient que mortelles ; et que ne 
seroit grande dommage de la morte de la diete Princesse au pris du bien 
que sortiroit de la diete union et intelligence ; en quoy il me prioit vou- 
loir considerer quand seroy seul et desoceupeV' Chapuys to Charles V., 
March 23, 1535. — MS. Vienna; and Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 426. 
This and other of Chapuys's most important letters I transcribed myself 
at Vienna. 



314 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Then once more, and, as Chapuys thought, with 
marked emphasis, he asked again what harm need be 
feared if the Princess were to die. The world might 
mutter, but why should it be resented by the Em- 
peror ? 1 

Chapuys says that he replied that he would not dwell 
on the trouble which might arise if the Princess sud- 
denly died in a manner so suspicious. God forbid 
that such a thing should be ! How could the Em- 
peror submit to the reproach of having consented to 
the death of his cousin, and sold her for the sake of 
a peace? 

Chapuys professed to believe, and evidently wished 
the Emperor to believe, that Cromwell was seriously 
proposing that the Princess Mary should be made 
away with. A single version of a secret conversation 
is an insufficient evidence of an intended monstrous 
crime. We do not know in what language it was car- 
ried on. Cromwell spoke no language but English 
with exactness, and Chapuys understood English im- 
perfectly. The recent and alarming illness of the 
Princess, occasioned by restraint, fear, and irritation, 
had made her condition a constant subject of Cha- 
puys's complaints, and Cromwell may have been think- 
ing and speaking only of her dying under the natural 
consequences of prolonged confinement. Chapuys's 
unvarying object was to impress on the Emperor that 
her life was in danger. But Cromwell he admitted 
had been uniformly friendly to Mary, and, had foul 
play been really contemplated, the Emperor's Am- 
bassador was the last person to whom the intention 
would have been communicated. 



1 "Me replicquant de nouveaulx quel dommage ou danger seroyt que 
la dicte Princesse feust morte oyres que le peuple en ruurmurast, et 
quelle raison auroit vostre Majeste eu fayre cas." 



Cromwell and Chapuys. 315 

The conversation did not end with Chapuys' s an- 
swer. Cromwell went on, he said (still dwelling on 
points most likely to wound Charles), to rage against 
popes and cardinals, saying that he hoped the race 
would soon be extinct, and that the world would be 
rid of their abomination and tyranny. Then he spoke 
again of France, and of the pressure laid on Henry to 
join with the French in a war. Always, he said, he 
had dissuaded his master from expeditions on the 
Continent. He had himself refused a large pension 
which the French Government had offered him, and 
he intended at the next Parliament to introduce a Bill 
prohibiting English Ministers from taking pensions 
from foreign princes on pain of death. 

Men who have been proposing to commit murders 
do not lightly turn to topics of less perilous interest. 

Some days passed before Chapuys saw Cromwell 
again ; but he continued to learn from him the various 
intrigues which were going on. Until the King was 
sure of his ground with Charles, the French faction 
at the court continued their correspondence with 
Francis. The price of an Anglo-French alliance was 
to be a promise from the French King to support 
Henry in his quarrel with Rome at the expected Coun- 
cil, and Chapuys advised his master not to show too 
much eagerness for the treaty, as he would make the 
King more intractable. 

The Emperor's way of remedying the affairs of 
England could not be better conceived, he said, pro- 
vided the English Government met him with an hon- 
est response, provided they would forward the meeting 
of the Council, and treat the Queen and Princess bet- 
ter, who were in great personal danger. This, how- 
ever, he believed they would never do. The Queen 
had instructed him to complain to the Emperor that 



816 The Divorce of Catheinne of Aragon. 

her daughter was still left in the hands of her ene- 
mies, and that if she was to die it would be attributed 
to the manner in which she had been dealt with; the 
Queen, however, was satisfied that the danger would 
disappear if the King and the Emperor came to an 
understanding ; and, if she could be assured that mat- 
ters would be conducted as the Emperor proposed, he 
would be able to persuade her to approve of the whole 
plan. 

Chapuys never repeated his suspicion that danger 
threatened Mary from Cromwell, and, if he had really 
believed it, he would hardly have failed to make 
further mention of so dark a suggestion. He was not 
scrupulous about truth : diplomatists with strong 
personal convictions seldom are. He had assured the 
King that a thought had never been entertained of an 
armed interference in England, while his letters for 
many months had been full of schemes for insurrection 
and invasion. He was eager for the work to begin. 
He was incredulous of any other remedy, and, if he 
dared, would have forced the Emperor's hand. He 
depended for his information of what passed at the 
court upon Anne Boleyn's bitterest enemies, and he 
put the worst interpretation upon every story which 
was brought to him. Cromwell, he said, had spoken 
like Caiaphas. It is hardly credible that Cromwell 
would have ventured to insult the Emperor with a sup- 
position that he would make himself an accomplice in 
a crime. But though I think it more likely that Cha- 
puys misunderstood or misrepresented Cromwell than 
that he accurately recorded his words, yet it is certain 
that there were members of Henry's Council who did 
seriously desire to try and to execute both Mary and 
her mother. Both of them were actively dangerous. 
Their friends were engaged in a conspiracy for open 



Personal Dangers to the Princess Mary. 317 

rebellion in their names, and, under the Tudor prin- 
ces, nearness of blood or station to the Crown was 
rather a danger than a protection. Royal pretenders 
were not gently dealt with, even when no immediate 
peril was feared from them. Henry VII. had nothing 
to fear from the Earl of Warwick, yet Warwick lay 
in a bloody grave. Mary herself executed her cousin 
Jane Grey, and was hardly prevented from executing 
her sister Elizabeth. Elizabeth, in turn, imprisoned 
Catherine Grey, and let her die as Chapuys feared 
that Mary was now about to die. The dread of 
another war of succession lay like a nightmare on the 
generations which carried with them an ever-present 
memory of the Wars of the Roses. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Negotiations for a treaty — Appeal of Catherine to the Emperor — 
Fresh plans for the escape of Mary — Forbidden by the Emperor — 
The King and his daughter — Suggestion of Dr. Butts — The clergy 
and the Reformation — The Charterhouse monks — More and Fisher 
in the Tower — The Emperor in Africa — The treaty — Rebellion in 
Ireland — Absolution of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald for the murder of 
the Archbishop of* Dublin — Treason of Lord Hussey — Fresh de- 
bates in the Spanish Council — Fisher created cardinal — Trial and 
execution of Fisher and More — Effect in Europe. 

More than a year had now passed since Clement 
had delivered judgment on the divorce case. So far 
the discharge had been ineffective, and the Brief of 
Execution, the direct command to the Catholic Powers 
to dethrone Henry and to his subjects to renounce 
their allegiance, was still withheld. The advances 
which the new Pope had made to England having met 
with no response, Paul III. was ready to strike the 
final blow, but his hand had been held by Charles, 
who was now hoping by a treaty to recover the Eng- 
lish alliance. Catherine had consented, but consented 
reluctantly, to an experiment from which she expected 
nothing. Chapuys himself did not wish it to succeed, 
and was unwilling to part with the expectations 
which he had built on Darcy's promises. The Span- 
ish Council, in recommending the course which the 
Emperor had taken, had foreseen the dispiritment 
which it might produce among the Queen's friends, 
and the injury to the Holy See by the disregard of a 



Letter of the Queen to the Emperor. 319 

sentence which Charles had himself insisted on. The 
treaty made no progress. The sacrifice appeared to 
be fruitless, and Catherine appealed to Charles once 
more in her old tone. She would be wanting in her 
duty to herself, she said, and she would offend God, 
if she did not seek the help of those who alone could 
give her effectual assistance. She must again press 
upon his Majesty the increasing perils to the Catholic 
Faith and the injury to the English realm which his 
neglect to act was producing. The sentence of Clem- 
ent had been powerless. She entreated him with all 
her energy as a Christian woman to hesitate no longer. 
Her daughter had been ill, and had not yet recovered. 
Had her health been strong, the treatment which she 
received would destroy it, and, if she died, there 
would be a double sin. The Emperor need not care 
for herself. She was accustomed to suffering and could 
bear anything. But she must let him know that she 
was as poor as Job, and was expecting a time when 
she would have to beg alms for the love of God. 1 

Mary was scarcely in so bad a case as her mother 
represented. Her spirit had got the better of her ill- 
ness, and she was again alert and active. The King 
had supplied her with money and had sent her various 
kind messages, but she was still eager to escape out of 
the realm, and Charles had again given a qualified 
consent to the attempt being made if it was sure of 
success. With Mary in his hands, he could deal with 
Henry to better advantage. A favourable opportunity 
presented itself. Three Spanish ships were lying in 
the Lower Pool; Mary was still at Greenwich, and 
their crews were at her disposition. Chapuys asked 
if she was ready. She was not only ready but eager. 

1 Queen Catherine to Charles V., April 8. — MS. Vienna ; Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. viii. p. 197. 



320 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

She could leave the palace at night with the help of 
confederates, be carried on board, and disappear 
down the river. 

Accident, or perhaps a whispered warning, de- 
ranged her plans. By a sudden order she was re- 
moved from Greenwich to Eltham. The alteration 
of residence was not accompanied with signs of suspi- 
cion. She was treated with marked respect. A 
State litter of some splendour was provided for her. 
The governess, Mrs. Shelton, however, was continued 
at her side, and the odious presence redoubled her 
wish to fly. Before she left Greenwich she sent a 
message to Chapuys imploring his advice and his as- 
sistance. She begged him for the love of God to 
contrive fresh means for removing her from the coun- 
try. The enterprise, he thought, would be now dan- 
gerous, but not impossible, and success would be a 
glorious triumph. The Princess had told him that in 
her present lodging she could not be taken away at 
night, but she might walk in the day in fine weather, 
and might be surprised and carried off as if against 
her consent. The river would not be many miles dis- 
tant, and, if she could be fallen in with when alone, 
there might be less difficulty than even at Greenwich, 
because she could be put on board below Gravesend. 1 

As a ship would be required from Flanders, Cha- 
puys communicated directly with Granvelle. He was 
conscious that, if he was himself in England when the 
enterprise was attempted, his own share in it would 
be suspected and it might go hard with him. He 
proposed, therefore, under some excuse of business in 
the Low Countries, to cross over previously. 

It would be a splendid coup, he said, and, consider- 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 4, 1535. — MS. Vienna; Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. viii. p. 193. 



Cromwell and Chapuys. 321 

ing how much the Princess wished it and her remark- 
able prudence and courage, the thing could, no doubt, 
be managed. Could she be once seized and on horse- 
back, and if there was a galley at hand and a large 
ship or two, there would be no real difficulty. The 
country-people would help her, and the parties sent in 
pursuit would be in no hurry. 1 

Either the difficulties proved greater than were ex- 
pected, or Charles was still hoping for the treaty, and 
would not risk an experiment which would spoil the 
chances of an accommodation. Once more he altered 
his mind and forbade the venture, and Chapuys had 
to take up again a negotiation from which he had no 
expectation of good. He met Cromwell from time to 
time, his master's pleasure being to preserve peace on 
tolerable terms ; and the Ambassador continued to pro- 
pose the reference of the divorce case to the General 
Council, on which Cromwell had seemed not unwilling 
to listen to him. If Henry could be tempted by vague 
promises to submit his conduct to a Council called by 
the Pope, he would be again in the meshes out of 
which he had cut his way. The cunning Ambassador 
urged on Cromwell the honour which the King would 
gain if a Council confirmed what he had done; and 
when Cromwell answered that a Council under the 
Emperor's influence might rather give an adverse sen- 
tence, he said that, if it was so, the King woidd have 
shown by a voluntary submission that his motives had 
been pure, and might have perfect confidence in the 
Emperor's fairness. Cromwell said he would consult 
the King ; but the real difficulty lay in the pretensions 
of the Princess. Cromwell was well served ; he prob- 
ably knew, as well as Chapuys, of the intended rape 

1 Chapuys to Granvelle, April 5, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. viii. p. 194 ■ and MS. Vienna. 



322 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

at Eltham, and all that it would involve. "Would 
to God " — lie broke out impatiently, and did not fin- 
ish the sentence ; but Chapuys thought he saw what 
the finish would have been. 1 Henry may be credited 
with some forbearance towards his troublesome daugh- 
ter. She defied his laws. Her supporters were try- 
ing;' to take his crown from him, and she herself was 
attempting to escape abroad and levy war upon him. 
Few of his predecessors would have hesitated to take 
ruder methods with so unmalleable a piece of metal. 
She herself believed that escape was her only chance 
of life. She was in the power of persons who, she 
had been told, meant to poison her, while no means 
were neglected to exasperate the King's mind against 
her. He, on his side, was told that she was incurably 
obstinate, while everything was concealed that might 
make him more favourably disposed towards her. In 
the midst of public business with which he was over- 
whelmed, he could not know what was passing inside 
the walls at Eltham. He discovered occasionally that 
he had been deceived. He complained to Cromwell 
"that he had found much good in his daughter of 
which he had not been properly informed." But if 
there was a conspiracy against Mary, there was also a 
conspiracy against himself, in a quarter where it could 
have been least expected. 

Dr. Butts, the King's physician, whose portrait by 
Holbein is so familiar to us, was one of the most de- 
voted friends of Queen Catherine. During Mary's 
illness, Dr. Butts had affected to be afraid of the re- 
sponsibility of attending upon her. He had consented 
afterwards, though with apparent reluctance, and had 
met in consultation Catherine's doctor, who had also 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 17, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. viii. p. 209. 



The King's Physician. 323 

allowed himself to be persuaded. Henry sent Butts 
down to Eltham with his own horses. The Royal 
physician found his patient better than he expected, 
and, instead of talking over her disorders, he talked of 
the condition of the realm with his brother practi- 
tioner. "The Doctor is a very clever man," wrote 
Chapuys, reporting- the account of the conversation 
which he received from the Queen's physician, "and 
is intimate with the nobles and the Council. He says 
that there are but two ways of assisting the Queen and 
Princess and of setting right the affairs of the realm : 
one would be if it pleased God to visit the King with 
some little malady." 1 "The second method was 
force, of which, he said, the King and his Ministers 
were in marvellous fear. If it came to a war, he 
thought the King would be specially careful of the 
Queen and Princess, meaning to use them, should 
things turn to the worst, as mediators for peace. But 
if neither of these means were made use of, he really 
believed they were in danger of their lives. He con- 
sidered it was lucky for the King that the Emperor 
did not know how easy the enterprise of England would 
be; and the present, he said, was the right time for 
it." 

His private physician, it is to be remembered, was 
necessarily, of all Henry's servants, the most trusted 
by him ; and the doctor was not contented with indi- 
rect suggestions, for he himself sent a secret message 
to Chapuys that twenty great peers and a hundred 
knights were ready, they and their vassals, to venture 

1 " Le premier estoit si Dieu vouloit visiter le Roy de quelque petite 
malaclie." The word petite implied perhaps in Chapnys's mind that 
Dr. Butts contemplated a disorder of which he could control the dimen- 
sions, and the word, if he used it, is at least as suspicious as Cromwell's 
language about Mary. 



324 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

fortune and life, with the smallest assistance from the 
Emperor, to rise and make a revolution. 1 

Dr. Butts with his petite maladie was a "giant 
traitor," though, happily for himself, he was left un- 
discovered. Human sympathies run so inevitably on 
the side of the sufferers in history, that we forget that 
something also is due to those whom they forced into 
dealing hardly with them. Catherine and the faith- 
ful Catholics who conspired and lost their lives for her 
cause and the Pope's, are in no danger of losing the 
favourable judgment of the world; the tyranny and 
cruelty of Henry VIII. will probably remain for ever 
a subject of eloquent denunciation; but there is an 
altera pars — another view of the story, which we may 
be permitted without offence to recognise. Henry 
was, on the whole, right; the general cause for which 
he was contending was a good cause. His victory 
opened the fountains of English national life, won for 
England spiritual freedom, and behind spiritual free- 
dom her political liberties. His defeat would have 
kindled the martyr-fires in every English town, and 
would have burnt out of the country thousands of poor 
men and women as noble as Catherine herself. He had 
stained the purity of his action by intermingling with 
it a weak passion for a foolish and bad woman, and 
bitterly he had to suffer for his mistake ; but the re- 
volt against, and the overthrow of, ecclesiastical des- 
potism were precious services, which ought to be re- 
membered to his honour; and, when the good doctor 
to whom he trusted his life, out of compassion for an 
unfortunate lady was, perhaps, willing to administer 

1 "Affirmant pour tout certain qu'il y avoit une xx des principaulx 
Seigneurs d'Angleterre et plus de cent Chevaliers tout disposes et prests 
a employer personnes, biens, armes, et subjects, ayant le moindre as- 
sistance de vostre MajesteV' Chapuys to Charles V., April 25, 1535. — 
Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. viii. p. 222 ; and MS. Vienna. 



The Monastic Orders. 325 

a doubtful potion to him, or to aid in inviting a Cath- 
olic army into England to extinguish the light that 
was dawning there, only those who are Catholics first 
and Englishmen afterwards will say that it was well 
done on the doctor's part. 

The temper of the nation was growing dangerous, 
and the forces on both sides were ranging themselves 
for the battle. Bishop Fisher has been seen sounding 
on the same string. He, with More, had now been 
for many months in the Tower, and his communica- 
tions with Chapuys having been cut off, he had been 
unable to continue his solicitations; but the Ambas- 
sador had undertaken for the whole of the clergy on 
the instant that the Emperor should declare himself. 
The o-rowth of Lutheranism had touched their hearts 
with pious indignation ; their hatred of heresy was al- 
most the sole distinction which they had preserved be- 
longing to their sacred calling. The regular orders 
were the most worthless ; the smaller monasteries were 
nests of depravity; the purpose of their existence was 
to sing souls out of purgatory, and the efficacy of 
their musical petitionings being no longer believed in, 
the King had concluded that monks and nuns could 
be better employed, and that the wealth which main- 
tained them could be turned to better purpose — to 
the purpose especially of the defence of the realm 
against them and their machinations. The monks 
everywhere were the active missionaries of treason. 
They writhed under the Act of Supremacy. Their 
hope of continuance depended on the restoration of 
the Papal authority. When they were discovered to 
be at once useless and treacherous, it was not unjust 
to take their lands from them and apply the money 
for which those lands could be sold, to the fleet and 
the fortresses on the coast. 



326 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

In this, the greatest of his reforms, Cromwell had 
been the King's chief adviser. He had been em- 
ployed under Wolsey in the first suppression of the 
most corrupt of the smaller houses. In the course of 
his work he had gained an insight into the scandalous 
habits of their occupants, which convinced him of the 
impolicy and uselessness of attempting to prolong their 
existence. Institutions however ancient, organiza- 
tions however profoundly sacred, cannot outlive the 
recognition that the evil which they produce is con- 
stant and the advantage visionary. 

That the monastic system was doomed had become 
generally felt; that the victims of the intended over- 
throw should be impatient of their fate was no more 
than natural. The magnitude of the design, the in- 
terests which were threatened, the imagined sanctity 
attaching to property devoted to the Church, gave an 
opportunity for outcry against sacrilege. The entire 
body of monks became in their various orders an 
army of insurrectionary preachers, well supplied with 
money, terrifying the weak, encouraging the strong, 
and appealing to the superstitions so powerful with a 
people like the English, who were tenacious of their 
habits and associations. 

The Abbots and Priors had sworn to the supre- 
macy, but had sworn reluctantly, with secret reserva- 
tions to save their consciences. With the prospect of 
an Imperial deliverer to appear among them, they 
were recovering courage to defy their excommuni- 
cated enemy. Those who retained the most of the 
original spirit of their religion were the first to recover 
heart for resistance. The monks of the London Char- 
terhouse, who were exceptions to the general corrup- 
tion, and were men of piety and character, came for- 
ward to repudiate their oaths and to dare the law to 



The Charterhouse Monks. 327 

punish them. Their tragical story is familiar to all 
readers of English history. Chapuys adds a few par- 
ticulars. Their Prior, Haughton, had consented to 
the Act of Supremacy; but his conscience told him 
that in doing so he had committed perjury. He went 
voluntarily, with three of the brotherhood, to Crom- 
well, and retracted his oath, declaring that the King- 
in calling himself Head of the Church was usurping 
the Pope's authority. They had not been sent for; 
their house was in no immediate danger; and there 
was no intention of meddling with them. Their act 
was a gratuitous defiance; and under the circum- 
stances of the country was an act of war. The effect, 
if not the purpose, was, and must have been, to en- 
courage a spirit which woidd explode in rebellion. 
Cromwell warned them of their danger, and advised 
them to keep their scruples to themselves. They said 
they would rather encounter a hundred thousand 
deaths. They were called before a Council of Peers. 
The Knights of the Garter were holding their annual 
Chapter, and the attendance was large. The Duke of 
Norfolk presided, having returned to the Court, and 
the proceedings were unusually solemn. The monks 
were required to withdraw their declaration; they 
were told that the statute was not to be disputed. 
They persisted. They were allowed a night to reflect, 
and they spent it on their knees in prayer. In the 
morning they were recalled ; their courage held, and 
they were sentenced to die, with another friar who 
had spoken and written to similar purpose. 

They had thrown down a challenge to the Govern- 
ment ; the challenge was accepted, and the execution 
marked the importance of the occasion. They were 
not a handful of insignificant priests, they were the 
advanced guard of insurrection ; and to allow them to 



328 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

triumph was to admit defeat. They were conducted 
through the streets by an armed force. The Duke of 
Norfolk, the Duke of Richmond, Henry's illegitimate 
son, Lord Wiltshire, and Lord Rochford attended at 
the scaffold. Sir Henry Norris was also there, 
masked, with forty of the Royal Guard on horseback. 
At the scaffold they were again offered a chance of 
life; again they refused, and died gallantly. The 
struggle had begun for the Crown of England. In 
claiming the supremacy for the Pojje, these men had 
abjured their allegiance to the King whom the Pope 
had excommunicated. Conscience was nothing — 
motive was nothing. Conscience was not allowed as 
a plea when a Lutheran was threatened with the stake. 
In all civil conflicts high motives are to be found on 
both sides, and in earnest times words are not used 
without meaning. The Statute of Supremacy was 
Henry's defence against an attempt to deprive him of 
his crown and deprive the kingdom of its indepen- 
dence. To disobey the law was treason ; and the pen- 
alty of treason was death. 1 

Chapuys in telling the story urged it as a proof to 
Charles that there was no hope of the King's repen- 
tance. It was now expected that More and Fisher, 
and perhaps the Queen and Princess, would be called 
on also to acknowledge the supremacy, and, if they 
refused, wotdd suffer the same fate. The King's Min- 
isters, Chapuys said, were known to have often re- 
proached the King, and to have told him it was a 
shame for him and the kingdom not to punish them 
as traitors. Anne Boleyn was fiercer and haughtier 
than ever she was. 2 Sir Thomas More was under the 



1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 5, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 452. 
*Ibid. 



Action on the Statute. 329 

same impression that Anne had been instigator of the 
severities. She would take his head from him, he 
said, and then added, prophetically, that her own 
would follow. The presence of her father and bro- 
ther and her favourite Norris at the execution of the 
Carthusians confirmed the impression. The action of 
the Government had grounds more sufficient than a 
woman's urgency. More and Fisher received notice 
that they would be examined on the statute, and were 
allowed six weeks to prepare their answer. Chapuys 
did not believe that any danger threatened Catherine, 
or threatened her household. She herself, however, 
anticipated the worst, and only hoped that her own 
fate might rouse the Emperor at last. 

The Emperor was not to be roused. He was pre- 
paring for his great expedition to Tunis to root out 
the corsairs, and had other work on hand. In vain 
Chapuys had tried to make him believe that Cromwell 
meditated the destruction of the Princess Mary; in 
vain Chapuys had told him that words were useless, 
and that "cautery was the only remedy " — that the 
English Peers were panting for encouragement to 
take arms. He had no confidence in insurgent sub- 
jects who could not use the constitutional methods 
which they possessed to do anything for themselves. 
He saw Henry crushing down resistance with the re- 
lentless severity of the law. He replied to Chapuys's 
entreaties that, although he could not in conscience 
abandon his aunt and cousin, yet the Ambassador 
must temporise. He had changed his mind about 
Mary's escape: he said it was dangerous, unadvisable, 
and not to be thought of. 1 The present was not the 
proper moment. He wrote a cautious letter to the 

1 Charles V. to Chapuys, May 10, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 459. 



330 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

King, which he forwarded for Chapuys to deliver. In 
spite of Charterhouse monks and Lutheran preachers, 
the Ambassador was to take up again the negotiations 
for the treaty. 

Thus Cromwell and he recommenced their secret 
meetings. A country-house was selected for the pur- 
pose, where their interviews would be unobserved. 
Chapuys had recommended that Henry should assist 
in calling a General Council. Cromwell undertook 
that Henry would consent, provided the Council was 
not held in Italy, or in the Pope's or the Emperor's 
dominions, and provided that the divorce should not 
be among the questions submitted to it. The Empe- 
ror, he said, had done enough for his honour, and 
might now leave the matter to the King's conscience. 
With respect to the Queen and Princess, the King 
had already written to Sir John Wallop, who was to 
lay his letters before the Spanish Ambassador in 
Paris. The King had said that, although the Empe- 
ror, in forsaking a loyal friend for the sake of a 
woman, had not acted well with him, yet he was will- 
ing to forget and forgive. If the Emperor would ad- 
vise the ladies to submit to the judgment of the Uni- 
versities of Europe, which had been sanctioned by the 
English estates of the realm, and was as good as a de- 
cree of a Council, they would have nothing to com- 
plain of. 1 Chapuys observed that such a letter ought 
to have been shown to himself before it was sent; but 
that was of no moment. The King of France, Crom- 
well went on, would bring the Turk, and the Devil, 
too, into Christendom to recover Milan ; the King and 
the Emperor ought to draw together to hold France 
in check; and yet, to give Chapuys a hint that he 
knew what he had been doing, he said he had heard, 

1 Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 459. 



Cromwell and Chapuys. 331 

though he did not believe it, that the Emperor and 
the King of the Romans had thought of invading Eng- 
land, in a belief that they would make an easy con- 
quest of it. They would find the enterprise more 
costly than they expected, and, even if they did con- 
quer England, they could not keep it. Chapuys, 
wishing to learn how much had been discovered, 
asked what Cromwell meant. Cromwell told him the 
exact truth. The scheme had been to stop the trade 
between England and Flanders. A rebellion was ex- 
pected to follow, which, Cromwell admitted, was not 
unlikely ; and then, in great detail and with a quiet 
air of certainty, he referred to the solicitations con- 
tinually made to the Emperor to send across an army. 
Leaving Chapuys to wonder at his sources of inform- 
ation, so accurate, Cromwell spoke of an approaching 
conference at Calais, which was to be held at the re- 
quest of the French King. He did not think any- 
thing would come of it. He had himself declined to 
be present, but one of the proposals to be made woidd 
be an offer of the Duke of Angouleme for the young 
Princess Elizabeth. The Council, he said, had mean- 
time been reviewing the old treaty for the marriage 
of the Emperor to the Princess Mary, and the King 
had spoken in the warmest terms of the Emperor. 
Perhaps as a substitute for the French connection, 
and provided the divorce was not called in question 
again, he thought that the Princess Elizabeth might 
be betrothed to Philip, and a marriage could be found 
out of the realm for the Princess Mary with the Em- 
peror's consent and approbation. The King, in this 
case, would give her the greatest and richest dower 
that was ever given to any Queen or Empress. 1 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 8, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 457. 



332 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Chapuys observed that the divorce must be disposed 
of before fresh marriages could be thought of. Crom- 
well wished him to speak himself to the King. Cha- 
puys politely declined to take so delicate a negotiation 
out of Cromwell's hands. For himself, he had not 
yet abandoned hope of a different issue. Lord Darcy 
was still eager as ever, and wished to communicate 
directly with the Emperor. From Ireland, too, the 
news were less discouraging. The insurrection had 
burnt down, but was still unsubdued. Lord Thomas 
found one of his difficulties to lie in the incomplete- 
ness of the Papal censures. The formal Bull of De- 
position was still unpublished. The young chief had 
written to the Pope to say that, but for this deficiency, 
he would have driven the English out of the island, 
and to beg that it might be immediately supplied. 
He had himself, too, perhaps, been in fault. The 
murder of an archbishop who had not been directly 
excommunicated was an irregularity and possibly a 
crime. He prayed that the Pope woidd send him ab- 
solution. Paul as he read the letter showed much 
pleasure. He excused his hesitation as having risen 
from a hope that the King of England would repent. 
For the future he said he would do his duty ; and at 
once sent Lord Thomas the required pardon for an 
act which had been really meritorious. 1 

The absolution may have benefited Lord Thomas's 
soul. It did not save him from the gallows. 

Again Cromwell and Chapuys met. Again the 
discussion returned to the insoluble problem. The 
Spanish Council of State had half recommended that 
the divorce should be passed over, as it had been at 
Cambray. Chapuys laboured to entangle Henry in 

1 Dr. Ortiz to Charles V., May 27, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 462. 



Proposed Treaty with the Emperor. 3S3 

an engagement that it should be submitted to the 
intended General Council. The argument took the 
usual form. Cromwell said that the King could not 
revoke what he had done, without disgrace. Chapuys 
answered that it was the only way to avoid disgrace, 
and the most honourable course which he coidd adopt. 
The King ought not to be satisfied in such a matter 
with the laws and constitutions of his own country. 
If he would yield on this single point, the taking away 
the property of the clergy might in some degree be 
confirmed. The ground alleged for it being the de- 
fence of the realm, there would be less occasion for 
such measures in future; the Emperor would allow 
the King to make his submission in any form that he 
might choose, and everything should be made as 
smooth as Henry could desire. 

Cromwell, according to Chapuys, admitted the 
soundness of the argument, but he said that it was 
neither in his power, nor in any man's power, to per- 
suade the King, who would hazard all rather than 
yield. Even the present Pope, he said, had, when 
Cardinal, written an autograph letter to the King, tell- 
ing him that he had a right to ask for a divorce, and 
that Clement had done him great wrong. 

The less reason then, Chapuys neatly observed, for 
refusing to lay the matter before a General Council. 

The Ambassador went through his work dutifully, 
though expecting nothing from it, and his reports of 
what passed with the English Ministers ended gene- 
rally with a recommendation of what he thought the 
wiser course. Lord Hussey, he said, had sent to him 
to say that he could remain no longer in a country 
where all ranks and classes were being driven into 
heresy ; and would, therefore, cross the Channel to see 
the Emperor in person, to urge his own opinion and 



334 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

learn the Emperor's decision from his own lips. If 
the answer was unfavourable he would tell his friends, 
that they might not be deceived in their expectations. 
They would then act for themselves. 1 

It is likely that Chapuys had been instructed to 
reserve the concessions which Charles was prepared to 
make till it was certain that, without them, the treaty 
would fail. France meanwhile was outbidding the 
Emperor, and the King was using, without disguise, 
the offers of each Power to alarm the other. Crom- 
well at the next meeting told Chapuys that Francis 
was ready to support the divorce unreservedly if 
Henry would assist him in taking Milan. The French, 
he said, should have a sharp answer, could confidence 
be felt in the Emperor's overtures. A sharp struggle 
was going on in the Council between the French and 
Imperial factions. Himself sincerely anxious for the 
success of the negotiation in which he was engaged, 
Cromwell said he had fallen into worse disgrace with 
Anne Boleyn than he had ever been. Anne had never 
liked him. She had told him recently "she would 
like to see his head off his shoulders." 2 She was 
equally angry with the Duke of Norfolk, who had 
been too frank in the terms in which he had spoken of 
her. If she discovered his interviews with Chapuys 
she would do them both some ill turn. 

The King himself agreed with Cromwell in pre- 
ferring the Emperor to Francis, but he would not part 
company with France till he was assured that Charles 
no longer meant his harm. Charles, it will be re- 
membered, had himself written to Henry, and the 
letter had by this time arrived. Chapuys feared that, 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 23, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. viii. p. 280 ; Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 405. 

2 Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 484. 



Proposed Treaty with the Emperor. 335 

if he presented it at a public audience, the Court 
would conclude that the Emperor was reconciled, and 
had abandoned the Queen and Princess, so he applied 
for a private reception. The King; granted it, read 
the letter, spoke graciously of the expedition against 
the Turks, and then significantly of his own arma- 
ments and the new fortifications at Dover and Calais. 
He believed (as Chapuys had heard from the Princess 
Mary) that, if he could tide over the present summer, 
the winter would then protect him, and that in an- 
other year he would be strong enough to fear no one. 
Seeing that he said nothing of the treaty, Chapuys 
began upon it, and said that the Emperor was anxious 
to come to terms with him, so far as honour and con- 
science would allow. Henry showed not the least 
eagerness. He replied with entire frankness that 
France was going to war for Milan. Large offers 
had been made to him, which, so far, he had not ac- 
cepted; but he might be induced to listen, unless he 
could be better assured of the Emperor's intention. 1 

It was evident that Henry could neither be cajoled 
nor frightened. Should Charles then give up the 
point for which he was contending? Once more the 
Imperial Privy Council sat to consider what was to be 
done. It had become clear that no treaty could be 
made with Henry unless the Emperor would distinctly 
consent that the divorce should not be spoken of. 
The old objections were again weighed — the injuries 
to the Queen and to the Holy See, the Emperor's 
obligations, the bad effect on Christendom and on 
England which a composition on such terms would 
produce, the encouragement to other Princes to act 
as Henry had done — stubborn facts of the case which 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Juiie 5, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 483. 



336 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

could not be evaded. On the other hand were the 
dangerous attitude of Francis, the obstinacy of Henry, 
the possibility that France and England might unite, 
and the inability of the Emperor to encounter their 
coalition. Both Francis and Henry were powerful 
Princes, and a quarrel would not benefit the Queen 
and her daughter if the Emperor was powerless to 
help them. The divorce was the difficulty. Should 
the Emperor insist on a promise that it should be sub- 
mitted to a General Council? It might be advisable, 
under certain circumstances, to create disturbances in 
England and Ireland, so as to force the King into an 
alliance on the Emperor's terms. But if Henry could 
be induced to suspend or modify his attacks on the 
Faith and the Church, to break his connection with 
France and withdraw from his negotiations with the 
Germans, if securities could be taken that the Queen 
and Princess should not be compelled to sign or pro- 
mise anything without the Emperor's consent, the evi- 
dent sense of the Spanish Council of State was that 
the proceedings against the King should be suspended, 
perhaps for his life, and that no stipulations shoidd be 
insisted on, either for the King's return to the Church 
or for his consent to the meeting of the General 
Council. God might perhaps work on the King's 
conscience without threat of force or violence ; and the 
Emperor, before starting on his expedition to Tunis, 
might tell the English Ambassador that he wished to 
be the King's friend, and would not go to war with 
any Christian Prince unless he was compelled. The 
Queen's consent would, of course, be necessary; she 
and the Princess would be more miserable than ever 
if they were made to believe that there was no help 
for them. 1 But their consent, if there was no alter- 
1 Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p. 486. 



Proposed Treaty with the Emperor. 337 

native, might be assumed when a refusal would be 
useless. 

If the willingness to make concessions was the mea- 
sure of the respective anxieties for an agreement be- 
tween the two countries, Spain was more eager than 
England, for the Emperor was willing to yield the 
point on which he had broken the unity of Christen- 
dom and content himself with words, while Henry 
would yield nothing, except the French alliance, for 
which he had cared little from the time that France 
had refused to follow him into schism. 

An alliance of the Emperor with an excommuni- 
cated sovereign in the face of a sentence which he had 
himself insisted on, and with a Bull of Deposition 
ready for launching, would be an insult to the Holy 
See more dangerous to it than the revolt of a single 
kingdom. The treaty might, however, have been 
completed on the terms which Wallop and the Im- 
perial Ambassador had agreed on at Paris, and which 
the Imperial Council had not rejected. The Pope 
saw the peril, struck in, and made it impossible. In 
the trial and execution of the Carthusians Henry had 
shown to Europe that he was himself in earnest. The 
blood of martyrs was the seed of the Church, and Paul 
calculated rightly that he could not injure the King 
of England more effectually than by driving him to 
fresh severities and thus provoking an insurrection. 
No other explanation can be given for his having 
chosen this particular moment for an act which must 
and would produce the desired consequence. Bishop 
Fisher and Sir Thomas More had been allowed six 
weeks to consider whether they would acknowledge the 
Statute of Supremacy. More was respected by every 
one, except the Lutherans, whom he confessed that 
he hated ; Fisher was regarded as a saint by the Cath- 



338 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

olic part of England ; and the King, who was depend- 
ent after all on the support of his subjects and could 
not wish to shock or alienate them, would probably 
have pressed them no further, unless challenged by 
some fresh provocation. Fisher had waded deep into 
treason, but, if the King knew it, there was no evi- 
dence which could be produced. Before the six 
weeks were expired the Court and the world were as- 
tonished to hear that Paul had created the Bishop of 
Rochester a cardinal, and that the hat was already on 
the way. Casalis, who foresaw the consequences, had 
protested against the appointment, both to the Pope 
and the Consistory. Paul pretended to be frightened. 
He begged Casalis to excuse him to the King. He 
professed, what it was impossible to believe, that he 
had intended to pay England a compliment. A gen- 
eral Council was to meet. He wished England to be 
represented there by a Prelate whom he understood 
to be distinguished for learning and sanctity. The 
Roman Pontiffs have had a chequered reputation, but 
the weakest of them has never been suspected of a 
want of worldly acuteness. The condition of England 
was as well understood at Rome as it was understood 
by Chapuys, and, with Dr. Ortiz at his ear, Paul 
must have been acquainted with the disposition of every 
peer and prelate in the realm. Fisher's name had 
been familiar through the seven years' controversy as 
of the one English Bishop who had been constant in 
resistance to every step of Henry's policy. Paul, who 
had just absolved Silken Thomas for the Archbishop 
of Dublin's murder, had little to learn about the con- 
spiracy, or about Fisher's share in it. The excuse 
was an insolence more affronting than the act itself. 
It was impossible for the King to acknowledge him- 
self defied and defeated. He said briefly that he 



Fisher and More. 339 

would send Fisher's head to Rome, for the hat to be 
fitted on it. Sir Thomas More, as Fisher's dearest 
friend, connected with him in opposition to the Ref- 
ormation and sharing his imprisonment for the same 
actions, was involved along with him in the fatal ef- 
fects of the Pope's cunning or the Pope's idiotcy. 
The six weeks ran out. The Bishop and the ex-Chan- 
cellor were called again before the Council, refused to 
acknowledge the supremacy, and were committed for 
trial. 

The French and English Commissioners had met 
and parted at Calais. Nothing had been concluded 
there, as Cromwell said with pleasure to Chapuys, 
prejudicial to the Emperor ; but as to submitting the 
King's conduct to a Council, Cromwell reiterated that 
it was not to be thought of. Were there no other 
reason, the hatred borne to him by all the English 
prestraylle for having pulled down the tyranny of the 
Church and tried to reform them, would be cause suf- 
ficient. The Council would be composed of clergy. 
More than this, and under the provocation of the 
fresh insult, Cromwell said that neither the King nor 
his subjects would recognise any Council convoked by 
the Pope. A Council convoked by the Emperor they 
would acknowledge, but a Papal Council never. They 
intended to make the Church of England a true and 
singular mirror to all Christendom. 1 

Paul can hardly have deliberately contemplated the 
results of what he had done. He probably calculated, 
either that Henry would not dare to go to extremities 
with a person of so holy a reputation as Bishop 
Fisher, or that the threat of it would force Fisher's 
and the Queen's friends into the field in time to save 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., June 30, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
v. p. 500. 



340 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

him. They had boasted that the whole country was 
with them, and the Pope had taken them at their word. 
Yet his own mind misgave him. The Nuncio at Paris 
was directed to beg Francis to intercede. Francis said 
he would do his best, but feared the "hat" would 
prove the Bishop's death. Henry, Francis said, was 
not always easy to deal with. He almost treated him 
as a subject. He was the strangest man in the world. 
He feared he could do no good with him. 1 There was 
not the least likelihood that the King would allow the 
interposition either of Francis or of any one. The 
crime created by the Act of Supremacy was the denial 
byword or act of the King's sovereignty, ecclesiastical 
or civil, and the object was to check and punish sedi- 
tious speaking or preaching. As the Act was first 
drafted, to speak at all against the supremacy brought 
an offender under the penalties. The House of Com- 
mons was unwilling to make mere language into high 
treason, and a strong attempt was made to introduce 
the word "maliciously." Men might deny that the 
King was Head of the Church in ignorance or inad- 
vertence; and an innocent opinion was not a proper 
subject for severity. But persons who had exposed 
themselves to suspicion might be questioned, and their 
answers interpreted by collateral evidence, to prove 
disloyal intention. Chapuys's letters leave no doubt 
of Fisher's real disloyalty. But his desire to bring in 
an Imperial army was shared by half the Peers, and, 
if proof of it could be produced, their guilty con- 
sciences might drive them into open rebellion. It was 
ascertained that Fisher and More had communicated 
with each other in the Tower on the answers which 
they were to give. But other points had risen for 

1 The Bishop of Faenza to M. Amhrogio, June 6, 1535. — Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. viii. p. 320. 



Fisher and More. 341 

which Fisher was not prepared. Among the papers 
found in his study were letters in an unknown hand 
addressed to Queen Catherine, which apparently the 
Bishop was to have forwarded to her, but had been 
prevented by his arrest. They formed part of a cor- 
respondence between the Queen and some Foreign 
Prince, carried on through a reverend father spoken 
of as E. R. . . . alluding to things which " no mor- 
tal man was to know besides those whom it behoved," 
and to another letter which E. R. had received of the 
Bishop himself. Fisher was asked who wrote these 
letters: "Who was E. R. ? Who was the Prince?" 
What those things were which no mortal was to know ? 
If trifles, why the secrecy, and from whom were they 
to be concealed? What were the letters which had 
been received from the Bishop himself to be sent over- 
sea? The letters found contained also a request to 
know whether Catherine wished the writer to proceed 
to other Princes in Germany and solicit them; and 
again a promise that the writer would maintain her 
cause among good men there, and would let her know 
what he could succeed in bringing to pass with the 
Princes. 

The Bishop was asked whether, saving his faith 
and allegiance, he ought to have assisted a man who 
was engaged in such enterprises, and why he concealed 
a matter which he knew to be intended against the 
King ; how the letter came into his hands, who sent it, 
who brought it. If the Bishop refused to answer or 
equivocated, he was to understand that the King knew 
the truth, for he had proof in his hands. The writer 
was crafty and subtle and had promised to spend his 
labour with the Princes that they should take in hand 
to defend the Lady Catherine's cause. 

The King held the key to the whole mystery. The 



342 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

mine had been undermined. The intended rebellion 
was no secret to Henry or to Cromwell. Catherine, 
a divorced wife, and a Spanish princess, owed no alle- 
giance in England. But Fisher was an English sub- 
ject, and conscience is no excuse for treason, until the 
treason succeeds. 

Fisher answered warily, but certainly untruly, that 
he could not recollect the name either of the Prince 
who wrote the letter which had been discovered or of 
the messenger who brought it. It was probably some 
German prince, but, as God might help him, he could 
not say which, unless it was Ferdinand, King of 
Hungary. E. R. was not himself, nor did he ever 
consent that the writer should attempt anything with 
the German Princes against the King. _, 

He had been careful. He had desired Chapuys 
from the beginning that his name should not be men- 
tioned, except in cipher. He had perhaps abstained 
from directly advising an application to Ferdinand, 
who could not act without the Emperor's sanction. 
His messages to Charles through his Ambassador even 
Fisher could scarcely have had the hardiness to deny; 
but these messages, if known, were not alleged. The 
Anglo-Imperial alliance was on the anvil, and the 
question was not put to him. 1 

Of Fisher's malice, however, as the law construed 
it, there was no doubt. He persisted in his refusal to 
acknowledge the supremacy of the Crown. Five days 
after his examination he was tried at Westminster 
Hall, and in the week following he was executed on 
Tower Hill. He died bravely in a cause which he 
believed to be right. To the last he might have saved 
himself by submission, but he never wavered. He 

' l Examination of Fisher in the Tower, June 12, 1535, — Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. viii. pp. 331 et seq. 



Fisher and More. 343 

knew that he could do better service to the Queen and 
the Catholic Church by his death than by his life. 
Cromwell told Chapuys that "the Bishop of Rome was 
the cause of his punishment, for having made a Car- 
dinal of the King's worst enemy." He was "greatly 
pitied of the people." The pity would have been less 
had his real conduct been revealed. 

A nobler victim followed. In the lists of those 
who were prepared to take arms against the King 
there is no mention of the name of Sir Thomas More ; 
but he had been Fisher's intimate friend and com- 
panion, and he could hardly have been ignorant of 
a conspiracy with which Fisher had been so closely 
concerned ; while malice might be inferred without in- 
justice from an acquaintance with dangerous purposes 
which he had not revealed. He paid the penalty of 
the society to which he had attached himself. He, 
even more than the Bishop of Rochester, was the chief 
of the party most opposed to the Reformation. He 
had distinguished himself as Chancellor by his zeal 
against the Lutherans, and, if that party had won the 
day, they would have gone to work as they did after- 
wards when Mary became Queen. No one knew bet- 
ter than More the need in which the Church stood of 
the surgeon's hand; no one saw clearer the fox's face 
under the monk's cowl: but, like other moderate re- 
formers, he detested impatient enthusiasts who spoilt 
their cause by extravagance. He felt towards the 
Protestantism which was spreading in England as 
Burke felt towards the Convention and the Jacobin 
Club, and while More lived and defied the statute the 
vast middle party in the nation which was yet unde- 
cided found encouragement in opposition from his ex- 
ample. His execution has been uniformly condemned 
by historians as an act of wanton tyranny. It was 



344 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

not wanton, and it was not an act of tyranny. It was 
an inevitable and painful incident of an infinitely 
blessed revolution. 

The received accounts of his trial are confirmed with 
slight additions by a paper of news from England 
which was sent to the Imperial Court. 

More was charged with having deprived the King 
of the title of u Supreme Head of the Church," which 
had been granted to him by the last Parliament. He 
replied that, when questioned by the King's Secre- 
tary what he thought of the statute, he had answered 
that, being a dead man to the world, he cared nothing 
for such things, and he could not be condemned for 
silence. The King's Attorney said that all good sub- 
jects were bound to answer without dissimulation or 
reserve, and silence was the same as speech. Silence, 
More objected, was generally taken to mean consent. 
Whatever his thoughts might be, he had never ut- 
tered them. 

He was charged with having exchanged letters with 
the Bishop of Rochester in the Tower on the replies 
which they were to give on their examination. Each 
had said that the statute was a sword with two edges, 
one of which slew the body, the other the soul. As 
they had used the same words it was clear that they 
were confederated. 

More replied that he had answered as his conscience 
dictated, and had advised the Bishop to do the same. 
He did not believe that he had ever said or done any- 
thing maliciously against the statute. 

The jury consulted only for a quarter of an hour 
and returned a verdict of "guilty." Sentence passed 
as a matter of course, and then More spoke out. As 
he was condemned, he said he would now declare his 
opinion. He had studied the question for seven 



Execution of Sir Thomas More. 345 

years, and was satisfied that no temporal lord could 
be head of the spiritualty. For each bishop on the 
side of the Royal Supremacy he could produce a hun- 
dred saints. For their Parliament he had the Coun- 
cils of a thousand years. For one kingdom he had all 
the other Christian Powers. The Bishops had broken 
their vows; the Parliament had no authority to make 
laws against the unity of Christendom, and had capi- 
tally sinned in making- them. His crime had been his 
opposition to the second marriage of the King. He 
had faith, however, that, as St. Paul persecuted St. 
Stephen, yet both were now in Paradise, so he and 
his judges, although at variance in this world, would 
meet in charity hereafter. 1 

The end came quickly. The trial was on the 1st 
of July; on the 6th the head fell of one of the most 
interesting men that England ever produced. Had 
the supremacy been a question of opinion, had there 
been no conspiracy to restore by arms the Papal ty- 
ranny, no clergy and nobles entreating the landing of 
an army like that which wasted Flanders at the com- 
mand of the Duke of Alva, no Irish nobles murdering 
Archbishops and receiving Papal absolution for it, to 
have sent Sir Thomas More to the scaffold for believ- 
ing the Pope to be master of England would have 
been a barbarous murder, deserving the execration 
which has been poured upon it. An age which has 
no such perils to alarm its slumbers forgets the ene- 
mies which threatened to waste the country with fire 
and sword, and admires only the virtues which remain 
fresh for all time ; we, too, if exposed to similar pos- 
sibilities might be no more merciful than our fore- 
fathers. 

1 News from England, July 1, 1535. -Spanish Calendar, vol. v. p 



507 



346 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

The execution of Fisher and More was the King's 
answer to Papal thunders and domestic conspirators, 
and the effect was electric. Darcy again appealed to 
Chapuys, praying that the final sentence should be 
instantly issued. He did not wish to wait any longer 
for Imperial aid. The Pope having spoken, the coun- 
try would now rise of itself. The clergy would fur- 
nish all the money needed for a beginning, and a way 
might be found to seize the gold in the treasury. Time 
pressed. They must get to work at once. If they 
loitered longer the modern preachers and prelates 
would corrupt the people, and all would be lost. 1 
Cifuentes wrote from Rome to the Emperor that the 
Bishop of Paris was on his way there with proposals 
from Francis for an arrangement with England which 
would be fatal to the Queen, the Church, and the 
morals of Christendom. He begged to be allowed to 
press the Pope to hold in readiness a brief deposing 
Henry; a brief which, if once issued, could not be 
recalled. 2 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., July 11, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
p. 512. 

2 Cifuentes to Charles V., July l(j, 1535. — Ibid. p. 515. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Campaign of the Emperor in Africa — Uncertainties at Rome — Policy 
of Francis — English preparations for war — Fresh appeals to the 
Emperor — Delay in the issue of the censures — The Princess Mary 
— Letter of Catherine to the Pope — Disaffection of the English 
Catholics — Libels against Henry, Cromwell, and Chapuys — Lord 
Thomas Fitzgerald — Dangerous position of Henry — Death of the 
Duke of Milan — Effect on European policy — - Intended Bull of Paul 
III. — Indecision of Charles — Prospect of war with France — Ad- 
vice of Charles to Catherine — Distrust of the Emperor at the Pa- 
pal Court — Warlike resolution of the Pope restrained by the Car- 
dinals. 

Cifuentes had been misinformed when he feared 
that Francis was again about to interpose in Henry's 
behalf at Rome. The conference at Calais had broken 
np without definite results. The policy of France was 
to draw Henry off from his treaty with the Emperor; 
Henry preferred to play the two great Catholic Pow- 
ers one against the other, and commit himself to nei- 
ther; and Francis, knowing the indignation which 
Fisher's execution would produce at Rome, was turn- 
ing his thoughts on other means of accomplishing his 
purpose. The Emperor's African campaign was splen- 
didly successf id — too successful to be satisfactory at 
the Vatican. The Pope, as the head of Christendom, 
was bound to express pleasure at the defeat of the In- 
fidels, but he feared that Charles, victorious by land 
and sea, might give him trouble in his own dominions. J 

i Spanish Qakndar, vol, v, p, 53?, 



348 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

A settled purpose, however, remained to punish the 
English King, and Henry had need to be careful. 
The French faction in the Council wished him to pro- 
ceed at once to extremities with the Princess, which 
would effectually end the hopes of an Imperial alli- 
ance. Anne Boleyn was continually telling the King 
that the Queen and Princess were his greatest danger. 
"They deserved death more than those who had been 
lately executed, since they were the cause of all the 
mischief." 1 Chapuys found himself no longer able to 
communicate with Mary, from the increased precau- 
tion in guarding her. It was alleged that there was 
a fear of her being carried off by the French. 

The Imperial party at Rome, not knowing what to do 
or to advise, drew a curious memorandum for Charles's 
consideration. The Emperor, they said, had been in- 
formed when the divorce case was being tried at Rome, 
that England was a fief of the Church of Rome, and 
as the King had defied the Apostolic See, he deserved 
to be deprived of his crown. The Emperor had not 
approved of a step so severe. But the King had now 
beheaded the Bishop of Rochester, whom the Pope 
had made a cardinal. On the news of the execution 
the Pope and Cardinals had moved that he should be 
deprived at once and without more delay for this and 
for his other crimes. Against taking such action was 
the danger to the Queen of which they were greatly 
afraid, and also the sense that if, after sentence, the 
crown of England devolved on the Holy See, injury 
might be done to the prospects of the Princess. It 
might be contrived that the Pope in depriving the 
King might assign the crown to his daughter, or the 
Pope in consistory might declare secretly that they were 
acting in favour of the Princess and without prejudice 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., July 25, 1535. — Ibid. vol. v. p. 518. 



The Emperor a Difficulties. 349 

to'her claim. To this, however, there was the objec- 
tion that the King might hear of it through some of 
the Cardinals. Something at any rate had to be done. 
All courses were dangerous. The Emperor was re- 
quested to decide. 1 

A new ingredient was now to be thrown into the 
political cauldron. So far from wishing to reconcile 
England with the Papacy, the Pope informed Cifu- 
entes that Francis was now ready and willing to help 
the Apostolic See in the execution of the sentence 
against the King of England. Francis thought that 
the Emperor ought to begin, since the affair was his 
personal concern ; but when the first step was taken 
Francis himself would be at the Pope's disposition. 
The meaning of this, in the opinion of Cifuentes, was 
merely to entangle the Emperor in a war with Eng- 
land, and so to leave him. The Pope himself thought 
so too. Francis had been heard to say that when the 
Emperor had opened the campaign he would come 
next and do what was most for his own interest. The 
Pope, however, said, as Clement had said before him, 
that, if Charles and Francis would only act together 
against England, the "execution" could be managed 
satisfactorily. Cifuentes replied that he had no com- 
mission to enter into that question. He reported 
what had passed to his master, and said that he would 
be in no haste to urge the Pope to further mea- 
sures. 2 

Henry had expected nothing better from France. 
He had dared the Pope to do his worst. He stood 
alone, with no protection save in the jealousy of the 
rival Powers, and had nothing to trust to save his own 



1 Memorandum on the Affairs of England. — Spanish Calendar, 
vol. v. p. 522. 

2 Ibid. p. 535. 



350 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

ability to defend his country and his crown. His chief 
anxiety was for the security of the sea. A successful 
stoppage of trade would, as Cromwell admitted, lead 
to confusion and insurrection. Ship after ship was 
built and launched in the Thames. The busy note of 
preparation rang over the realm. The clergy, Lord 
Darcy had said, were to furnish money for the rising. 
The King was taking precautions to shorten their re- 
sources, and turn their revenues to the protection of 
the realm. Cromwell's visitors were out over England 
examining into the condition of the religious houses, 
exposing their abuses and sequestrating their estates. 
These dishonoured institutions had been found to be 
"very stews of unnatural crime" through the length 
and breadth of England. Their means of mischief 
were taken away from such worthless and treacherous 
communities. Crown officials were left in charge, 
and their final fate was reserved for Parliament. 

Henry, meanwhile, confident in his subjects, and 
taking lightly the dangers which threatened him, went 
on progress along the Welsh borders, hunting, visit- 
ing, showing himself everywhere, and received with 
apparent enthusiasm. The behaviour of the people 
perplexed Chapuys. "I am told," he wrote, "that in 
the districts where he has been, a good part of the 
peasantry, after hearing the Court preachers, are 
abused into the belief that he was inspired by God 
to separate himself from his brother's wife. They are 
but idiots. They will return soon enough to the truth 
when there are any signs of change." They would not 
return, nor were they the fools he thought them. The 
clergy, Chapuys himself confessed it, had made them- 
selves detested by the English commons for their loose 
lives and the tyranny of the ecclesiastical courts. The 
monasteries, too many of them, were nests of infamy 



France and the Papacy. 351 

and fraud, and the King whom the Catholie world 
called Antichrist appeared as a deliverer from an 
odious despotism. 

At Rome there was still uncertainty. The Imperial 
memorandum explains the cause of the hesitation. 
The Emperor was engaged in Africa, and could de- 
cide nothing till his return. The great Powers were 
divided on the partition of the bear's skin, while the 
bear was still unstricken. Why, asked the impa- 
tient English Catholics, did not the Pope strike and 
make an end of him when even Francis, who had so 
long stayed his hand, was now urging him to pro- 
ceed? Francis was probably as insincere as Cifuentes 
believed him to be. But the mere hope of help from 
such a quarter gave fresh life to the wearied Cathe- 
rine and her agents. 

"The Pope," wrote Dr. Ortiz to the Emperor, 
"has committed the deprivation of the King of Eng- 
land and the adjudication of the realm to the Apos- 
tolic See as a fief of the Church to Cardinals Cam- 
peggio, Simoneta, and Cesis. The delay in granting 
the executorials in the principal cause is wonderful. 
Although the deposition of the King was spoken of so 
hotly in the Consistory, and they wrote about it to all 
the Princes, they will only proceed with delay and with 
a monition to the King to be intimated in neighbour- 
ing countries. This is needless. His heresy, schism, 
and other crimes are notorious. He may be deprived 
without the delay of a monition. If it is pressed, 
it is to be feared it will be on the side of France. It 
is a wonderful revenge which the King of France has 
taken on the King of England, to favour him until he 
has fallen into schism and heresy, and then to forsake 
him in it, to delude him as far as the gallows, and to 



352 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

leave him to hang. The blood of the saints whom 
that King has martyred calls to God for justice." 1 

Catherine, sick with hope deferred and tired of the 
Emperor's hesitation, was catching at the new straw 
which was floating by her. Ortiz must have kept her 
informed of the French overtures at the Vatican. 
She prayed the Regent Mary to use her influence with 
the French Queen. Now was the time for Francis to 
show himself a true friend of his brother of England, 
and assist in delivering him from a state of sin. 2 

Strange rumours were current in France and in 
England to explain the delay of the censures. The 
Pope had confessed himself alarmed at the complete- 
ness of Charles's success at Tunis. It was thought 
that the Emperor, fresh from his victories, might act 
on the advice of men like Lope de Soria, take his 
Holiness himself in hand and abolish the Temporal 
Power; that the Pope knew it, and therefore feared 
to make matters worse by provoking England further. 3 

Pope and Princes might watch each other in dis- 
trust at a safe distance ; but to the English conspira- 
tors the long pause was life or death. Delays are 
usually fatal with intended rebellion. The only safety 
is in immediate action. Enthusiasm cools, and se- 
crets are betrayed. Fisher's fate was a fresh spur 
to them to move, but it also proved that the Govern- 
ment knew too much and did not mean to flinch. 

1 Ortiz to the Empress, Sept. 1, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. ix. p. 84. 

2 " Cuando se viese con la Seiiora Reyna su hermana despues de dadas 
mis afectuosas encomiendas rogarle de mi parte quisiese tener mencion 
de my con el Christianisimo Rey su marido y hacer quanto pudiese 
ser, que el sea buen amigo al Rey mi Seilor procurando de quitarle del 
pecado, en que esta." Catherine to the Regent Mary, Aug. 8, 1535. — 
MS. Vienna. 

3 Chapuys to Charles V., Sept. 25, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. ix. pp. 140-141. 



The Emperor and the Pope. 353 

Chapuys tried Granvelle again. "Every man of 
position here," he said, "is in despair at the Pope's 
inaction. If something is not done promptly there 
will be no hope for the ladies, or for religion either, 
which is going daily to destruction. Things are come 
to such a pass that at some places men even preach 
against the Sacrament. The Emperor is bound to 
interfere. What he has done in Africa he can do in 
England with far more ease and with incomparably 
more political advantage." 1 

Granvelle could but answer that Henry was a mon- 
ster, and that God would undoubtedly punish him; 
but that for himself he was so busy that he could 
scarcely breathe, and that the Emperor continued to 
hope for some peaceful arrangement. 

Cifuentes meanwhile kept his hand on Paul. His 
task was difficult, for his orders were to prevent the 
issue of the executorials for fear France should act 
upon them, while Catholic Christendom would be 
shaken to its base if it became known that it was the 
Emperor who was preventing the Holy See from 
avenging itself. Even with the Pope Cifuentes could 
not be candid, and Ortiz, working on Paul's jealousy 
and unable to comprehend the obstacle, had persuaded 
his Holiness to draw up "the brief of execution" and 
furnish a copy to himself. 2 

1 Chapuys to Granvelle, Sept. 25, 1535. — Vienna MS. ; Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. ix. p. 141. 

2 The executory brief was not identical with the Bull of Deposition. 
The first was the final act of Catherine's process, a declaration that 
Henry, having disobeyed the sentence on the divorce delivered by 
Clement VII., was excommunicated, and an invitation to the Catholic 
Powers to execute the judgment by force. The second involved a claim 
for the Holy See on England as a fief of the Church — an intimation 
that the King of England had forfeited his crown and that his subjects' 
allegiance had reverted to their Supreme Lord. The Pope and Con- 
sistory preferred the complete judgment, as more satisfactory to them- 



354 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

"In the matter of the executory letters," Cifuen- 
tes wrote to Charles, " I have strictly followed your 
Majesty's instructions. They have been kept back 
for a year and a half without the least appearance that 
the delay proceeded from us, but, on the contrary, as 
if we were disappointed that they were not drawn 
when asked for. Besides his Holiness 's wish to wait 
for the result of the offers of France, another circum- 
stance has served your Majesty's purpose. There 
were certain clauses to which I could not consent, in 
the draft shown to me, as detrimental to the right of 
the Queen and Princess and to your Majesty's preemi- 
nence. 

"Now that all hope has vanished of the return of 
the King of England to obedience, Dr. Ortiz, not know- 
ing that you wished the execution to be delayed, has 
taken out the executory letters and almost despatched 
them while I was absent at Perugia. The letters 
are ready, nothing being wanted but the Pope's seal. 
I have detained them for a few days, pretending that I 
must examine the wording. They will remain in my 
possession till you inform me of your pleasure." 1 

The issue of the Pope's censures either in the form 
of a letter of execution or of a Bull of Deposition was 
to be the signal of the English rising, with or without 
the Emperor. Darcy and his friends were ready and 
resolved to begin. But without the Pope's direct sanc- 
tion the movement would lose its inspiration. The 
Irish rebellion had collapsed for the want of it. Lord 
Thomas Fitzgerald had surrendered and was a pris- 
oner in the Tower. 

selves. The Catholic Powers objected to it for the same reason. The 
practical effect would be the same. 

1 Cifuentes to Charles V., Oct. 8, 1535. — Spanish Calendar, vol, v. 
p. 547. 



Petition of Mary to the Emperor. 355 

It was not the part of a child, however great her 
imagined wrongs, deliberately to promote an insurrec- 
tion against her father. Henry II. 's sons had done it, 
but times were changed. The Princess Mary was de- 
termined to justify such of Henry's Council as had 
recommended the harshest measures against her. She 
wrote a letter to Chapuys which, if intercepted, might 
have made it difficult for the King to save her. 

"The condition of things," she said, " is worse than 
wretched. The realm will fall to ruin unless his 
Majesty, for the service of God, the welfare of Chris- 
tendom, the honour of the King my father, and com- 
passion for the afflicted souls in this country, will take 
pity on us and apply the remedy. This I hope and 
feel assured that he will do if he is rightly informed 
of what is taking place. In the midst of his occupa- 
tions in Africa he will have been unable to realise our 
condition. The whole truth cannot be conveyed in 
letters. I would, therefore, have you despatch one of 
your own people to inform him of everything, and to 
supplicate him on the part of the Queen my mother, 
and myself for the honour of God and for other re- 
spects to attend to and provide for us. In so acting 
he will accomplish a service most agreeable to Al- 
mighty God. Nor will he win less fame and glory to 
himself than he has achieved in the conquest of Tunis 
or in all his African expedition." 1 

Catherine simultaneously addressed herself to the 

1 "Et luy supplier de la part de la Reyne, ma mere, et myenne en 
rhonneur de Dieu et pour aultres respects que dessus vouloit entendre 
et pourvoyr aux affaires dycy. En quoy fera tres agitable service a 
Dieu, et n'en acquerra nioins de gloire qu'en la conqueste de Tunis tt 
de toute l'affaire d'Afrique." De la Princesse de V Angleterre a VAm- 
bassadeur, October, 1535. — MS. Vienna; Spanish Calendar, vol. v, 
p. 559. 



356 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Pope in a letter equally characteristic. The "brief of 
execution" was the natural close of her process, which, 
after judgment in her favour, she was entitled to de- 
mand. The Pope wished her to apply for it, that it 
might appear to be granted at her instance and not on 
his own impulse. 

"Most Holy and Blessed Father," she wrote, "I kiss 
your Holiness 's hands. My letters have been filled 
with complaints and importunities, and have been more 
calculated to give you pain than pleasure. I have 
therefore for some time ceased from writing to your 
Holiness, although my conscience has reproached me 
for my silence. One only satisfaction I have in think- 
ing of the present state of things: I thank unceas- 
ingly our Lord Jesus Christ for having appointed a 
vicar like your Holiness, of whom so much good is 
spoken at a time when Christendom is in so great a 
strait. God in His mercy has preserved you for this 
hour. Once more, therefore, as an obedient child of 
the Holy See, I do entreat you to bear this realm in 
special mind, to remember the King, my lord and hus- 
band, and my daughter. Your Holiness knows, and all 
Christendom knows, what things are done here, what 
great offence is given to God, what scandal to the 
world, what reproach is thrown upon your Holiness. 
If a remedy be not applied shortly there will be no end 
to ruined souls and martyred saints. The good will 
be firm and will suffer. The lukewarm will fail if 
they find none to help them, and the rest will stray 
out of the way like sheep that have lost their shep- 
herd. I place these facts before your Holiness be- 
cause I know not any one on whose conscience the 
deaths of these holy and good men and the perdition 
of so many souls ought to weigh more heavily than 



Appeal of Catherine to the Pope. 357 

on yours, inasmuch as your Holiness neglects to en- 
counter these evils which the Devil, as we see, has 
sown among us. 

" I write frankly to your Holiness, for the discharge 
of my own soul, as to one who, I hope, can feel with 
me and my daughter for the martyrdoms of these 
admirable persons. I have a mournful pleasure in 
expecting that we shall follow them in the manner 
of their torments. And so I end, waiting for the 
remedy from God and from your Holiness. May it 
come speedily. If not, the time will be past. Our 
Lord preserve your Holiness's person." 1 

On the same day and by the same messenger she 
wrote to Charles, congratulating him on his African 
victory, and imploring him, now that he was at lib- 
erty, to urge the Pope into activity. In other words, 
she was desiring him to carry fire and sword through 
England, when if she herself six years before would 
have allowed the Pope's predecessor to guide her and 
had retired into "religion," there would have been 
no divorce, no schism, no martyrs, no dangers of a 
European convulsion on her account. Catherine, as 
other persons have done, had allowed herself to be gov- 
erned by her own wounded pride, and called it con- 
science. 

Chapuys conveyed the Queen's arguments both to 
Charles and to Granvelle. He again assured them 
that the Princess and her mother were in real danger 
of death. If the Emperor continued to hesitate, he 
said, after his splendid victories in Africa, there 
would be general despair. The opportunity would be 
gone, and an enterprise now easy would then be diffi- 
cult, if not impossible. 
1 Queen Catherine to the Pope, October 10, 1535. —MS. Vienna. 



358 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Now was the time. The execution of More and 
Fisher, the suppression of the monasteries, the spolia- 
tion of the Church, had filled clerical and aristocratic 
England with fear and fury. The harvest had failed ; 
and the failure was interpreted as a judgment from 
Heaven on the King's conduct. So sure Chapuys felt 
that the Emperor would now move that he sent posi- 
tive assurances to Catherine that his master would not 
return to Spain till he had restored her to her rights. 
Even the Bishop of Tarbes, who was again in Lon- 
don, believed that Henry was lost at last. The whole 
nation, he said, Peers and commons, and even the 
King's own servants, were devoted to the Princess and 
her mother, and would join any prince who would take 
up their cause. The discontent was universal, partly 
because the Princess was regarded as the right heir to 
the crown, partly for fear of war and the ruin of trade. 
The autumn had been wet : half the corn was still in 
the fields. Queen Anne was universally execrated, 
and even the King was losing his love for her. If war 
was declared, the entire country would rise. 1 

The Pope, it has been seen, had thought of declar- 
ing Mary to be Queen in her father's place. Such a 
step, if ventured, would inevitably be fatal to her. 
Her friends in England wished to see her married to 
some foreign prince — if possible, to the Dauphin — 
that she might be safe and out of the way. The Prin- 
cess herself, and even the Emperor, were supposed to 
desire the match with the Dauphin, because in such 
an alliance the disputes with France might be forgot- 
ten, and Charles and the French king might unite to 
coerce Henry into obedience. 

1 The Bishop of Tarhes to the Bailly of Troyes, Oetoher, 1535. — 
Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. ix. p. 187* 



Danger of Henry's Situation. 359 

The wildest charges against Henry were now printed 
and circulated in Germany and the Low Countries. 
Cromwell complained to Chapuys. " Worse, ' ' he said, 
"could not be said against Jew or Devil." Chapuys 
replied ironically that he was sorry such things should 
be published. The Emperor would do his best to stop 
them, but in the general disorder tongues could not be 
controlled. 

So critical the situation had become in these autumn 
months that Cromwell, of course with the King's con- 
sent, was obliged to take the unusual step of interfer- 
ing with the election of the Lord Mayor of London, 
alleging that, with the State in so much peril, it was 
of the utmost consequence to have a well-disposed 
man of influence and experience at the head of the 
City. 

"Cromwell came to me this morning," Chapuys 
wrote to his master on the 13th of October; "he said 
the King was informed that the Emperor intended to 
attack him in the Pope's name (he called his Holi- 
ness, ' bishop of Rome,' but begged my pardon while 
he did so,) and that a Legate or Bishop was coming to 
Flanders to stir the fire. The King could not believe 
that the Emperor had any such real intention after 
the friendship which he had shown him, especially 
when there was no cause. In breaking with the Pope 
he had done nothing contrary to the law of God, and 
religion was nowhere better regulated and reformed 
than it was now in England. The King would send a 
special embassy to the Emperor, if I thought it would 
be favourably received. I said I could not advise so 
great a Prince. I believed that, if the object of such 
an embassy was one which your Majesty could grant 
in honour and conscience, it would not only be well 



360 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

received but would be successful. Otherwise, I could 
neither recommend nor dissuade." 1 

By the same hand which carried this despatch Cha- 
puys forwarded the letters of Catherine and Mary, add- 
ing another of his own to Granvelle, in which he said 
that "if the Emperor wished to give peace and union 
to Christendom, he must begin in England. It would 
be easy, for everyone was irritated. The King's trea- 
sure would pay for all, and would help, besides, for 
the enterprise against the Turk. It was time to pun- 
ish him for his folly and impiety." 2 

Charles seemed to have arrived at the same conclu- 
sion. He had already written from Messina, on his 
return from Tunis, both to Chapuys and to his Am- 
bassador in Paris, that, as long as Henry retained his 
concubine, persisted in his divorce, and refused to re- 
cognise the Princess as his heir, he could not honour- 
ably treat with him. 3 The Pope, when Catherine's 
letter reached him, was fuming with fresh anger at 
the fate of the Irish rebellion. Lord Thomas, spite 
of Papal absolution and blessing, was a prisoner in the 
Tower. He had surrendered to his uncle, Lord Leon- 
ard Grey, under some promise of pardon. He had 
been carried before the King. For a few days he was 
left at liberty, and might have been forgiven, if he 
would have made a satisfactory submission; but he 
calculated that "a new world" was not far off, and 
that he might hold out in safety. Such a wild cat 
required stricter keeping. The Tower gates closed 
on him, and soon after he paid for the Archbishop's 
life with his own. 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Oetoher 13, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. ix. p. 196. 

2 Chapuys to Granvelle, October 13, 1535. — Ibid. p. 199. 

3 Ibid. pp. 225, 228. 



Enthusiasm at Rome. 361 

Ortiz, when he heard that Fitzgerald was impris- 
oned, said that the choice lay before him to die a 
martyr or else to be perverted. God, he hoped, 
would permit the first. The spirit of one of the 
murdered Carthusians had appeared to the brother- 
hood and informed them of the glorious crown which 
had been bestowed on Fisher. 1 

In this exalted humour Catherine's letter found Pa T 1 
and the Roman clergy. The Pope had already in- 
formed Cifuentes that he meant to proceed to "de- 
privation." The letters of execution had been so drawn 
or re-drawn as to involve the forfeiture of Henry's 
throne, 2 and Ortiz considered that Providence had so 
ordered it that the Pope was now acting motu proprio 
and not at the Queen's solicitation. Cifuentes was 
of opinion, however, that Paul meant to wait for the 
Queen's demand, that the responsibility might be 
hers. Chapuys's courier was ordered to deliver Cath- 
erine's letter into the Pope's own hands. Cifuentes 
took the liberty of detaining it till the Emperor's 
pleasure was known. But no one any longer doubted 
that the time was come. France and England were 
no longer united, and the word for action was to be 
spoken at last. 

At no period of his reign had Henry been in greater 
danger. At home the public mind was unsettled. A 
large and powerful faction of peers and clergy were 
prepared for revolt, and abroad he had no longer an 
ally. England seemed on the eve of a conflict the 
issue of which no one could foresee. At this moment 
Providence, or the good luck which had so long be- 
friended him, interposed to save the King and save 
the Reformation. 

1 Spanish Calendar, October 24, 1535, vol. v. p. 559. 

2 Ortiz to the Emperor, November 4, 1535. — Ibid. vol. v. p. 565. 



362 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Sforza, Duke of Milan and husband of Christina 
of Denmark, died childless on the 24th of October. 
Milan was the special subject of difference between 
France and the Empire. The dispute had been sus- 
pended while the Duke was alive. His death re- 
opened the question, and the war long looked for for 
the Milan succession became inevitable and immedi- 
ately imminent. 

The entire face of things was now changed. Fran- 
cis had, perhaps, never seriously meant to join in exe- 
cuting the Papal sentence against England ; but he had 
intended to encourage the Emperor to try, that he 
might fish himself afterwards in the troubled waters, 
and probably snatch at Calais. He now required 
Henry for a friend again, and the old difficulties and 
the old jealousies were revived in the usual form. 
Both the great Catholic Powers desired the suspension 
of the censures. The Emperor was again unwilling 
to act as the Pope's champion while he was uncertain 
of the French King. Francis wished to recover his 
position as Henry's defender. The Pope was an 
Italian prince as well as sovereign of the Church, 
and his secular interest was thought to be more French 
than Imperial. 

No sooner was Sforza gone than the Cardinal Du 
Bellay and the Bishop of Macon were despatched from 
Paris to see and talk with Paul. They found him still 
too absorbed in the English question to attend to any- 
thing besides. He was in the high exalted mood of 
Gregory VII., imagining that he was about to reassert 
the ancient Papal prerogative, and again dispose of 
kingdoms. 

The Pope, wrote the French Commissioners, having 
heard that there was famine and plague in England, 
had made up his mind to act, and was incredibly ex- 



Bull prepared against Henry. 363 

cited. The sentence was prepared and was to issue 
unexpectedly like a bolt out of the blue sky. They 
enclosed a copy of it, and waited for instructions from 
Francis as to the line which they were to take. To set 
things straight again would, they said, be almost im- 
possible ; but they would do their best to prevent ex- 
tremities, and to show the King of England that they 
had endeavoured to serve him. Nothing like the sen- 
tence which Paul had constructed had been ever seen 
before. Some articles had been inserted to force Fran- 
cis to choose between the Pope and the King. They 
were malicious, unjust, and terribhment enormes. 1 

The new Hildebrand, applying to himself the words 
of Jeremiah, "Behold, I have set thee over nations 
and kingdoms, that thou may est root out and destroy," 
had proceeded to root out Henry. He had cursed him ; 
he cursed his abettors. His body when he died was 
to lie unburied and his soul lie in hell for ever. His 
subjects were ordered to renounce their allegiance, and 
were to fall under interdict if they continued to obey 
him. No true son of the Church was to hold inter- 
course or alliance with him or his adherents, under 
pain of sharing his damnation; and the Princes of 
Europe and the Peers and commons of England were 
required, on their allegiance to the Holy See, to expel 
him from the throne. 2 

This was the "remedy" for which Catherine had 
been so long entreating, out of affection for her mis- 
guided lord, whose soul she wished to save. The love 
which she professed was a love which her lord could 
have dispensed with. 

The Papal Nuncio reported from Paris the attitude 

1 Du Bellay and the Bishop of Macon to Francis I., Novemher 12, 
1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. ix. p. 273. 

2 Froude's History of England, vol. ii. p. 386. 



364 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

which France intended to assume. He had been speak- 
ing with the Admiral Philip de Chabot about England. 
The Admiral had admitted that the King had doubt- 
less done violent things, and that the Pope had a right 
to notice them. France did not wish to defend him 
against the Pope, but, if he was attacked by the Em- 
peror, would certainly take his part. The Nuncio said 
that he had pointed out that the King of England had 
God for an enemy; that he was, therefore, going to 
total ruin; and that the Pope had hoped to find in 
Francis a champion of the Church. The Admiral said 
that, of course, England ought to return to the faith : 
the Pope could deal with him hereafter; but France 
must take care of her own interests. 1 

Charles, too, was uneasy and undecided. Until the 
Milan question had been reopened the French had 
spoken as if they would no longer stand between 
Henry and retribution, but he was now assured that 
they would return to their old attitude. They had 
stood by Henry through the long controversy of the 
divorce. Even when Fisher was sent to the scaffold 
they had not broken their connection with him. The 
King, he knew, was frightened, and would yield, if 
France was firm; but, unless the Pope had a promise 
from the French King under his own hand to assist in 
executing the censures, the Pope would find himself 
disappointed; and the fear was that Francis would 
draw the Emperor into a war with England and then 
leave him to make his own bargain. 2 

Kings whose thrones and lives are threatened can- 
not afford to be lenient. Surrounded by traitors, 
uncertain of France, with the danger in which he 

1 Bishop of Faenzato M. Ambrogio, November 15, 1535. — Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. ix. p. 276. 

2 Charles V. to Cifuentes, November, 1535. — Ibid. vol. ix. p. 277. 



Catherine and the Princess Mary. 365 

stood immeasurably increased by the attitude of Cath- 
erine and her daughter, the King, so the Marchioness 
of Exeter reported to Chapuys, had been heard to sav 
that they must bend or break. The anxiety which 
they were causing was not to be endured any longer. 
Parliament was about to meet, and their situation 
would have then to be considered. 1 

The Marchioness entreated him to let the Emperor 
know of this, and tell him that, if he waited longer, he 
would be too late to save them. Chapuys took care 
that these alarming news should lose nothing in the 
relating. Again, after a fortnight, Lady Exeter came 
to him, disguised, to renew the warning. The " she- 
devil of a Concubine," she said, was thinking of no- 
thing save of how to get the ladies despatched. The 
Concubine ruled the Council, and the King was afraid 
to contradict her. The fear was, as Chapuys said, 
that he would make the Parliament a joint party with 
him in his cruelties, and that, losing hope of pardon 
from the Emperor, they would be more determined to 
defend themselves. 2 

The danger, if danger there was, to Catherine and 
Mary, was Chapuys 's own creation. It was he who 
had encouraged them in defying the King, that they 
might form a visible rally ing-point to the rebellion. 
Charles was more rational than the Ambassador, and 
less credulous of Henry's wickedness. "I cannot be- 

1 " Tout a cest instant la Marquise de Exeter m'aenvoye' dire que le 
Roy a dernierement dit a ses plus privet conseillers qu'il ne voulloit plus 
demeurer en les faseheuses crainctes et grevements qu'il avoit de long 
temps eus a cause des Royne et Prineesse ; et qu'il y regardassent a ce 
prochain Parlement Ten faire quicte, jurant bien et tres obstinement 
qu'il n'aetendoit plus longuement de y pourvoir." Chapuys to Charles 
V., Nov. G, 1535. —MS. Vienna. 

2 " Afin que par ee moyen, perdant l'espoir de la elemence et miseri- 
corde de Vostre Majeste tonte-fois fussent plus determinez a se defen- 
dre." Chapuys a 1'Empereur. — MS. Vienna, Nov. 23. 



366 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

lieve what you tell me," he replied to his Ambassador's 
frightful story. "The King cannot be so unnatural 
as to put to death his own wife and daughter. The 
threats you speak of can only be designed to terrify 
them. They must not give way, if it can be avoided ; 
but, if they are really in danger, and there is no alter- 
native, you may tell them from me that they must 
yield. A submission so made cannot prejudice their 
rights. They can protest that they are acting under 
compulsion, in fear for their lives. I will take care 
that their protestation is duly ratified by their proctors 
at Rome." l Chapuys was a politician, and obeyed his 
orders. But that either Catherine or her daughter 
should give way was the last wish either of him or of 
Ortiz, or any of the fanatical enthusiasts. Martyrs 
were the seed of the Church. If Mary abandoned 
her claim to the succession, her name could no longer 
be used as a battle-cry. The object was a revolution 
which would shake Henry from his throne. On the 
scaffold, as a victim to her fidelity to her mother and 
to the Holy See, she would give an impulse to the in- 
surrection which nothing could resist. 

The croaks of the raven were each day louder. 
Lady Exeter declared that the King had said that the 
Princess should be an example that no one should dis- 
obey the law. There was a prophecy of him that at 
the beginning of his reign he would be gentle as a lamb, 
and at the end worse than a lion. That prophecy he 
meant to fulfil. 2 

Ortiz, who had his information from Catherine her- 
self, said that she was preparing to die as the Bishop 
of Rochester and the others had died. She regretted 

1 The Emperor to Chapuys. — MS. Vienna. 

2 Chapuys to Granvelle, Nov. 21, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. ix. p. 290. 



Hesitation of the Pope. 367 

only that her life had not been as holy as theirs. The 
"kitchen-wench" — as Ortiz named Anne — had often 
said of the Princess that either Mary would be her 
death or she would be Mary's, and that she would 
take care that Mary did not laugh at her after she 
was gone. 1 

Stories flying at such a time were half of them the 
creation of rage and panic, imperfectly believed by 
those who related them, and reported to feed a fire 
which it was so hard to kindle; but they show the 
spirit of which the air was full. At Rome there was 
still distrust. Francis had shown the copy of the in- 
tended sentence to the different Ambassadors at Paris. 
He had said that the Pope was claiming a position for 
the Apostolic See which could not be allowed, and 
must be careful what he did. 2 Paul agreed with the 
Emperor that, before the sentence Was delivered, 
pledges to assist must be exacted from Francis, but 
had thought that he might calculate with sufficient 
certainty on the hereditary enmity between France 
and England. Cifuentes told him that he must judge 
of the future by the past. The French were hanker- 
ing after Italy, and other things were nothing in com- 
parison. The Pope hinted that the Emperor was said 
to be treating privately with Henry. Cifuentes could 
give a flat denial to this, for the treaty had been 
dropped. If the Emperor, however, resolved to un- 
dertake the execution Francis was not to be allowed 
to hear of it, as he would use the knowledge to set 
Henry on his guard. 3 

Chapuys was a master of the art of conveying false 
impressions while speaking literal truth. 

1 Ortiz to the Empress, Nov. 22, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. ix. pp. 293-4. 

2 Bishop of Faenza to M. Amhrogio, Dec. 9. — Ibid. vol. ix. p. 317. 

3 Cifuentes to Charles V., Nov. 30, 1535. — Ibid. vol. ix. p. 303, 



368 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Francis, who, in spite of Cifuentes, learnt what was 
being projected at Rome, warned Henry that the Em- 
peror was about to invade England. He even said 
that the Emperor had promised that, if he would not 
interfere, the English crown might be secured to a 
French prince by a marriage with Mary. Cromwell 
questioned Chapuys on such "strange news." Lying 
cost Chapuys nothing. The story was true, but he 
replied that it was wild nonsense. Not only had the 
Emperor never said such a thing, but he had never even 
thought of anything to the King's prejudice, and had 
always been solicitous for the honour and tranquillity 
of England. The Emperor wished to increase, not 
diminish, the power of the King, and even for the 
sake of the Queen and Princess he would not wish the 
King to be expelled, knowing the love they bore him. 
Cromwell said he had always told the King that the 
Emperor would attempt nothing against him unless he 
was forced. Chapuys agreed: so far, he said, from 
promoting hostilities against the King, the Emperor, 
ever since the sentence on the divorce, had held back 
the execution, and, if further measures were taken, 
they would be taken by the Pope and Cardinals, not 
by the Emperor. 1 

In this last intimation Chapuys was more correct 
than he was perhaps aware of. 

The Pope, sick of the irresolutions and mutual ani- 
mosities of the great Catholic Powers, had determined 
to act for himself. Catherine's friends had his ear. 
They at all events knew their own minds. On the 
10th of December he called a consistory, said that he 
had suffered enough in the English cause, and would 
bear it no more. He required the opinions of the Car- 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Dec. 18, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. ix. p. 333. 



The Intended Bull. 369 

dinals on the issue of the executorial brief. The scene 
is described by Du Bellay, who was one of them, and 
was present. The Cardinals, who had been debating 
and disagreeing for seven years, were still in favour 
of further delays. They all felt that a brief or bull 
deposing the King was a step from which there would 
be no retreat. The Great Powers, they were well 
aware, would resent the Pope's assumption of an au- 
thority so arrogant. All but one of them said that 
before the executory letters were published a moni- 
tion must first be sent to the King. The language of 
the letters, besides, was too comprehensive. The 
King's subjects and the King's allies were included in 
the censures, and, not being in fault, ought not to suf- 
fer. Voices, too, were heard to say that kings were 
privileged persons, and ought not to be treated with 
disrespect. 

The Pope, before dissatisfied with their objections, 
now in high anger at the last suggestion, declared 
that he would spare neither emperors, nor kings, 
nor princes. God had placed him over them all; the 
Papal authority was not diminished — it was greater 
than ever, and would be greater still when there was a 
pope who dared to act without faction or cowardice. 
He reproached the Cardinals with embroiling a clear 
matter. The brief, he maintained, was a good brief, 
faulty perhaps in style, but right in substance, and 
approved it was to be, and at once. 

It hit all round — hit the English people who con- 
tinued loyal to their sovereign, hit the Continental 
Powers who had treaties with Henry which they had 
not broken. The Cardinals thought the Pope would 
spoil everything. Campeggio said such a Bull touched 
the French King, and must not appear. The Arch- 
bishop of Capua went with the Pope : "Issue at once," 



370 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

he said, " or the King will be sending protests, as he 
did in Clement's time." The Pope spoke in great 
anger, but to no purpose. The majority of the Car- 
dinals was against him, and the Bull was allowed to 
sleep till a more favourable time. "It is long," said 
Du Bellay, "since there has been a Pope less loved 
by the College, the Romans, and the world." 1 

1 Cardinal du Bellay to the Cardinals of Lorraine and Tournon, Dec. 
22, 1535. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. ix. pp. 341-43. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Illness of Queen Catherine — Her physician's report of her health — 
Her last letter to the Emperor — She sends for Chapuys — Interview 
between Chapuys and Henry — Chapuys at Kimbolton — Death of 
Catherine — Examination of the body — Suspicion of poison — Cha- 
puys's opinion — Reception of the news at the Court — Message of 
Anne Boleyn to the Princess Mary — Advice of Chapuys — Unpop- 
ularity of Anne — Court rumours. 

While the Pope was held back by the Cardinals, 
and the Great Powers were watching- each other, afraid 
to move, the knot was about to be cut, so far as it 
affected the fortunes of Catherine of Aragon, in a man- 
ner not unnatural and, by Cromwell and many others, 
not unforeseen. The agitation and anxieties of the 
protracted conflict had shattered her health. Severe 
attacks of illness had more than once caused fear for 
her life, and a few months previously her recovery 
had been thought unlikely, if not impossible. Crom- 
well had spoken of her death to Chapuys as a contin- 
gency which would be useful to the peace of Europe, 
and which he thought would not be wholly unwelcome 
to her nephew. Politicians in the sixteenth century 
were not scrupulous, and Chapuys may perhaps have 
honestly thought that such language suggested a darker 
purpose. But Cromwell had always been Catherine's 
friend within the limits permitted by his duty to the 
King and the Reformation. The words which Chapuys 
attributed to him were capable of an innocent inter- 



372 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

pretation ; and it is in the highest degree unlikely that 
he, of all men, was contemplating a crime of which 
the danger would far outweigh the advantage, and 
which would probably anticipate for a few weeks or 
months only a natural end, or that, if he had seriously 
entertained such an intention, he would have made a 
confidant of the Spanish Ambassador. Catherine had 
been wrought during the autumn months into a state 
of the highest excitement. Her letters to the Pope 
had been the outpourings of a heart driven near to 
breaking; and if Chapuys gave her Charles's last mes- 
sage, if she was told that it was the Emperor's plea- 
sure that she and her daughter must submit, should 
extremities be threatened against them, she must have 
felt a bitter conviction that the remedy which she had 
prayed for would never be applied, and that the strug- 
gle would end in an arrangement in which she would 
herself be sacrificed. 

The life at Kimbolton was like the life at an ordi- 
nary well-appointed English country-house. The es- 
tablishment was moderate, but the castle was in good 
condition and well-furnished ; everything was provided 
which was required for personal comfort ; the Queen 
had her own servants, her confessor, her physician, 
and two or three ladies-in-waiting ; if she had not more 
state about her it was by her own choice, for, as has 
been seen, she had made her recognition as queen the 
condition of her accepting a more adequate establish- 
ment. Bodily hardships she had none to suffer, but 
she had a chronic disorder of long standing, which had 
been aggravated by the high-strung expectations of 
the last half-dozen years. Sir John Wallop, the Eng- 
lish ambassador at Paris, had been always "her good 
servant;" Lady Wallop was her creatura and was 
passionately attached to her. From the Wallops the 



Last Letters of Catherine. 373 

Nuncio at the French Court heard in the middle of 
December that she could not live more than six months. 
They had learnt the "secret" of her illness from her 
own physician, and their evident grief convinced him 
that they were speaking the truth. Francis also was 
aware of her condition ; the end was known to be near, 
and it was thought in Court circles that when she was 
gone "the King would leave his present queen and 
return to the obedience of the Church." 1 

The disorder from which Catherine was suffering 
had been mentioned by Cromwell to Chapuys. The 
Ambassador asked to be allowed to visit her. Crom- 
well said that he might send a servant at once to Kim- 
bolton, to ascertain her condition, and that he would 
ask the King's permission for himself to follow. The 
alarming symptoms passed off for the moment; she 
rallied from the attack, and on the 13th of December 
she was able to write to Ortiz, to tell him of the com- 
fort and encouragement which she had received from 
his letters, and from the near prospect of the Pope's 
action. In that alone lay the remedy for the suffer- 
ings of herself and her daughter and "all the good." 
The Devil, she said, was but half -tied, and slackness 
would let him loose. She could not and dared not 
speak more clearly ; Ortiz was a wise man, and would 
understand. 2 

On the same day she wrote her last letter to the 
Emperor. The handwriting, once bold and powerful, 
had grown feeble and tremulous, and the imperfectly 
legible lines convey only that she expected something 
to be done at the approaching parliament which would 

1 The Bishop of Faenza to M. Ambrogio, Dec. 13, 1535. — Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. ix. p. 326. 

2 Queen Catherine to Dr. Ortiz, Dec. 13, 1535. — Ibid. vol. ix. p. 325. 



374 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

be a world's scandal and her own and her daughter's 
destruction. 1 

Finding herself a little better, she desired Chapuys 
to speak to Cromwell about change of air for her, 
and to ask for a supply of money to pay the servants' 
wages. Money was a gratuitous difficulty: she had 
refused to take anything which was addressed to her as 
princess dowager, and the allowance was in arrears. 
She had some confidence in Cromwell, and Charles, 
too, believed, in spite of Chapuys's stories, that Crom- 
well meant well to Catherine, and wished to help her. 
He wrote himself to Cromwell to say that his loyal 
service would not be forgotten. 2 

Chapuys heard no more from Kimbolton for a fort- 
night, and was hoping that the attack had gone off like 
those which had preceded it; on the 29th, however, 
there came a letter to him from the Spanish physician, 
saying that she was again very ill, and wished to see 
him. Chapuys went to Cromwell immediately. Crom- 
well assured him that no objection would be raised, 
but that, before he set out, the King desired to speak 
with him. He hurried to Greenwich, where the Court 
was staying, and found Henry more than usually gra- 
cious, but apparently absorbed in politics. He walked 
up and down the room with his arm around the Am- 
bassador's neck, complained that Charles had not writ- 
ten to him, and that he did not know what to look for 
at his hands. The French, he said, were making ad- 
vances to him, and had become so pressing, since the 
death of the Duke of Milan, that he would be forced 
to listen to them, unless he could be satisfied of the 
Emperor's intentions. He was not to be deluded into 

1 Queen Catherine to Charles V., Dec. 13, 1535. — MS. Vienna. 

2 The Emperor to Thomas Cromwell, Dec. 13, 1535. — Spanish Cal- 
endar, vol. ix. p. 588. 



Henry between France and the Empire. 375 

a position where he would lose the friendship of both 
of them. Francis was burning for war. For himself 
he meant honourably, and would be perfectly open 
with Chapuys : he was an Englishman, he did not say 
one thing when he meant another. Why had not the 
Emperor let him know distinctly whether he would 
treat with him or not? 

Chapuys hinted a fear that he had been playing 
with the Emperor only to extort better terms from 
France. A war for Milan there might possibly be, 
but the Emperor after his African successes was 
stronger than he had ever been, and had nothing to 
fear. 

All that might be very well, Henry said, but if he 
was to throw his sword into the scale the case might 
be different. Hitherto, however, he had rejected the 
French overtures, and did not mean to join France in 
an Italian campaign if the Emperor did not force him. 
As to the threats against himself, English commerce 
would of course suffer severely if the trade was stopped 
with the Low Countries, but he could make shift else- 
where; he did not conceal his suspicions that the 
Emperor meant him ill, or his opinion that he had been 
treated unfairly in the past. 1 

Chapuys enquired what he wished the Emperor to 
do. To abstain, the King replied, from encouraging 
the Princess and her mother in rebellion, and to re- 
quire the revocation of the sentence which had been 
given on the divorce. The Emperor could not do 

1 "Et que vostre Ma t6 luy avoit use 1 de la plus grande ingratitude que 
l'on scauroit dire, solicitant a l'appetit d'une femme tant de ehoses 
contre luy, que luy avoit faict innuiuerables maux et fascheries, et 
de telle importance, que vostre Ma t6 par menasses et force avoit fr.ict 
donner la sentence contre luy, comme le niesnie Pape l'avoit confessed 
Chapuys a l'Empereur, Dec. 30, 1535. — MS. Vienna ; Spanish Calen- 
dar, vol. v. p. 595. 



376 Tlie Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

that, Chapuys rejoined, even if lie wished to do it. 
The King said he knew the Pope had called on the 
Emperor to execute the sentence ; he did not believe, 
however, that Madame, as he called Catherine, had 
long to live, and, when she was gone, the Emperor 
would have no further excuse for interfering in Eng- 
lish affairs. Chapuys replied that the Queen's death 
would make no difference. The sentence had been a 
necessity. The King ended the conversation by tell- 
ing him that he might go to see her, if he liked ; but 
she was in extremis, and he woidd hardly find her 
alive. At the Princess's request, Chapuys asked if 
she also might go to her mother. At first Henry re- 
fused, but said, after a moment, he would think about 
it, and added, as Chapuys afterwards recollected, a few 
words of kindness to Catherine herself. 

Unfeeling and brutal, the world exclaims. More 
feeling may have been shown, perhaps, than Chapuys 
cared to note. But kings whose thrones are menaced 
with invasion and rebellion have not much leisure for 
personal emotions. Affection for Catherine Henry 
had none, however, and a pretence of it would have 
been affectation. She had harassed him for seven 
years ; she had urged the Pope to take his crown from 
him; she had done her worst to stir his subjects 
into insurrection, and bring a Spanish fleet and army 
into English waters and upon English soil. Respect 
her courage he did, but love for her, if in such a mar- 
riage love had ever existed, must have long disap- 
peared, and he did not make a show of a regret which 
it was impossible for him to feel. He perhaps con- 
sidered that he had done more than enough in resisting 
the advice of his Council to take stronger measures. 

After despatching the letter describing the inter- 
view at Greenwich, the Ambassador started with his 



Last Illness of Catherine. 377 

suite for Kimbolton, and with a gentleman of Crom- 
well's household in attendance. Immediately on his 
arrival Catherine sent for him to her bedside, and de- 
sired that this gentleman should be present also, to 
hear what passed between them. She thanked Cha- 
puys for coming. She said, if God was to take her, 
it would be a consolation to her to die in his arms and 
not like a wild animal. She said she had been taken 
seriously ill at the end of November with pain in the 
stomach and nausea; a second and worse attack of the 
same kind had followed on Christmas Day; she could 
eat nothing, and believed that she was sinking. Cha- 
puys encouraged her — expressed his hopes for her re- 
covery — said that he was commissioned to tell her 
that she might choose a residence for herself at any 
one of the royal manors, that the King would give her 
money, and was sorry to hear of her illness. He him- 
self entreated her to keep up her spirits, as on her re- 
covery and life the peace of Christendom depended. 
The visit excited her, she was soon exhausted, and 
they then left her to rest. After an interval she sent 
for the Ambassador again, and talked for two hours 
with him alone. She had brightened up; the next 
morning she was better; he remained four days at 
Kimbolton, which were spent in private conversation. 
She was the same Catherine which she had always 
been — courageous, resolute, and inflexible to the end. 
She spoke incessantly of the Emperor, and of her 
own and her daughter's situation. She struck per- 
petually on the old note: the delay of the "remedy" 
which was causing infinite evil, and destroying the 
souls and bodies of all honest and worthy people. 

Chapuys explained to her how the Emperor had 
been circumstanced, and how impossible it had been 
for him to do more than had been done. He com- 



378 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

forted her, however, with dilating on the Pope's in- 
dignation at the execution of Fisher, and his deter- 
mination to act in earnest at last. He told her how 
Francis, who had been the chief difficulty, was now 
becoming alienated from the King, and satisfied her 
that the delay had not been caused by f orgetfulness of 
herself and the Princess. With these happier pros- 
pects held out to her she recovered her spirits and ap- 
peared to be recovering her health. At the end of the 
four days she was sleeping soundly, enjoying her food, 
laughing and exchanging Castilian jokes with a Span- 
iard whom Chapuys had brought with him. She was 
so much better, so happy, and so contented, that the 
Ambassador ceased to be alarmed about her. He 
thought it would be imprudent to abuse the King's 
permission by remaining longer unnecessarily. The 
physician made no objection to his going, and prom- 
ised to let him know if there was again a change for 
the worse ; but this person evidently no longer believed 
that there was any immediate danger, for his last 
words to Chapuys were to ask him to arrange for her 
removal from Kimbolton to some better air. Cathe- 
rine, when the Ambassador took leave, charged him 
to write to the Emperor, to Granvelle, and to Secre- 
tary Covos, and entreat them, for God's sake, to 
make an end one way or the other, for the uncertainty 
was ruining the realm and would be her own and her 
daughter's destruction. 

This was on the night of Tuesday, the 4th of Jan- 
uary. Chapuys was to leave the next morning. Be- 
fore departing he ascertained that she had again slept 
well, and he rode off without disturbing her. Through 
the Wednesday and Thursday she continued to im- 
prove, and on the Thursday afternoon she was cheer- 
ful, sate up, asked for a comb and dressed her hair. 



Death of Catherine. 379 

That midnight, however, she became suddenly rest- 
less, begged for the sacrament, and became impatient 
for morning when it could be administered. Her 
confessor, Father Ateca (who had come with her from 
Spain, held the see of Llandaff, and had been left un- 
disturbed through all the changes of the late years), 
offered to anticipate the canonical hour, but she would 
not allow him. At dawn on Friday she communi- 
cated, prayed God to pardon the King for the wrongs 
which had been inflicted upon her, and received ex- 
treme unction; she gave a few directions for the dis- 
position of her personal property, and then waited for 
the end. At two o'clock in the afternoon she passed 
peacefully away (Friday, Jan. 7, 1536). 

A strange circumstance followed. The body was to 
be embalmed. There were in the house three per- 
sons who, according to Chapuys, had often performed 
such operations, neither of them, however, being sur- 
geons by profession. These men, eight hours after 
the death, opened the stomach in the usual way, but 
without the presence either of the confessor or the phy- 
sician. Chapuys says that these persons were acting 
by the King's command, 1 but there is nothing to in- 
dicate that the confessor and physician might not have 
been present at the operation had they thought it ne- 
cessary. Chapuys had previously asked the physician 
if the Queen could have been poisoned. The physi- 
cian said that he feared so, as she had not been well 
since she had taken some Welsh ale ; if there had been 
poison, however, it must have been very subtle, as 
he had observed no symptom which indicated it ; when 
the body was opened they would know. 2 The physi- 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 21, 1536. —MS. Vienna; Spanish 
Calendar, vol. v. part 2, p. 18. 

2 " Je demanday par plusieurs fois au m^decin s'il y avoit quelque 
souhQon de venin. II me diet qu'il s'en douhtoit, car depuys qu'elle 



380 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

cian had thus looked forward to an examination, and 
had he really entertained suspicions he would cer- 
tainly have made an effort to attend. If he was 
prohibited, or if the operation had been hurried 
through without his knowledge, it is not conceivable 
that, after he had left England and returned to his 
own country, he would not have made known a charge 
so serious to the world. This he never did. It is 
equally remarkable that on removing from Kimbolton 
he was allowed to attend upon the Princess Mary — a 
thing impossible to understand if he had any mystery 
of the kind to communicate to her, or if the Govern- 
ment had any fear of what he might say. When the 
operation was over, however, one of the men went to 
the Father Ateca and told him in confession, as if in 
fear of his life, that the body and intestines were nat- 
ural and healthy, but that the heart was black. They 
had washed it, he said; they had divided it, but it 
remained black and was black throughout. On this 
evidence the physician concluded that the Queen, be- 
yond doubt, had died of poison. 1 

A reader who has not predetermined to believe the 
worst of Henry VIII. will probably conclude differ- 
ently. The world did not believe Catherine to have 
been murdered, for among the many slanders which 
the embittered Catholics then and afterwards heaped 
upon Henry, they did not charge him with this. Cha- 
puys, however, believed, or affected to believe, that 
by some one or other murdered she had been. It was 
a terrible business, he wrote. The Princess would die 

avoit beu d'une cervise de Galles elle n'avoit fait bien ; et qu'il failloit 
que ne fust poison termine" et artificeux, car il ne veoit les signes de 
simple et pur venin." Chapuys a l'Empereur, Jan. 9, 1536. — MS. Vi- 
enna ; Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 22. 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 9 and Jan. 21, 1536. — MS. Vienna; 
Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, pp. 2-10, 



Suspicions of Poison. 381 

of grief, or else the Concubine would kill her. Even 
if the Queen and Princess had taken the Emperor's 
advice and submitted, the Concubine, he thought, 
under colour of the reconciliation which would have 
followed, would have made away with them the more 
fearlessly, because there woidd then be less suspicion. 
He had not been afraid of the Kino-. The danger was 
from the Concubine, who had sworn to take their lives 
and would never have rested till it was done. The 
King and his Mistress, however, had taken a shorter 
road. They were afraid of the issue of the brief of 
execution. With Catherine dead the process at Rome 
would drop, the chief party to the suit being gone. 
Further action would have to be taken by the Pope 
on his own account, and no longer upon hers, and the 
Pope would probably hesitate ; while, as soon as the 
mother was out of the way, there would be less dif- 
ficulty in working upon the daughter, whom, being 
a subject, they would be able to constrain. 1 

It was true that the threatened Papal brief, being a 
part and consequence of the original suit, would have 
to be dropped or recalled. Henry could not be pun- 
ished for not taking back his wife when the wife was 
dead. To that extent her end was convenient, and 
thus a motive may be suggested for making away with 
her. It was convenient also, as was frankly avowed, 
in removing the principal obstacle to the reconciliation 
of Henry and the Emperor; but, surely, on the condi- 
tion that the death was natural. Had Charles allowed 
Chapuys to persuade him that his aunt had been mur- 
dered, reconciliation would have been made impossi- 
ble for ever, and Henry would have received the just 
reward of an abominable crime. Chapuys's object 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 21, 1536. — MS. Vienna; Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 47. 



382 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

from the beginning had been to drive the Emperor 
into war with England, and if motive may be conjec- 
tured for the murder of Catherine, motive also can be 
found for Chapuys's accusations, which no other evi- 
dence, direct or indirect, exists to support. 

If there had been foul play there would have been 
an affectation of sorrow. There was none at all. 
When the news arrived Anne Boleyn and her friends 
showed unmixed pleasure. The King (Chapuys is 
again the only witness and he was reporting from 
hearsay) thanked God there was now no fear of war; 
when the French knew that there was no longer any 
quarrel between him and the Emperor, he could do as 
he pleased with them. Chapuys says these were his 
first words on receiving the tidings that Catherine was 
gone — words not unnatural if the death was innocent, 
but scarcely credible if she had been removed by as- 
sassination. 

The effect was of general relief at the passing away 
of a great danger. It was thought that the Pope 
woidd now drop the proceedings against the King, and 
Cromwell said that perhaps before long they would 
have a Legate among them. Even Chapuys, on con- 
sideration, reflected that he might have spoken too 
confidently about the manner of Catherine's end. 
Her death, he imagined, had been brought about 
partly by poison and partly by despondency. Had he 
reflected further he might have asked himself how 
poison could have been administered at all, as the 
Queen took nothing which had not been prepared by 
her own servants, who would all have died for her. 

Undoubtedly, however, the King breathed more 
freely when she was gone. There was no longer a 
woman who claimed to be his wife, and whose pres- 
ence in the kingdom was a reflection on the legitimacy 



Relief at the Court. 383 

of his second daughter. On the Sunday following, the 
small Elizabeth was carried to church with special 
ceremony. In the evening there was a dance in the 
hall of the palace, and the King appeared in the mid- 
dle of it with the child in his arms. All allowance 
must be made for the bitterness with which Chapuys 
described the scene. He was fresh from Catherine's 
bedside. He had witnessed her sufferings; he had 
listened to the story of her wrongs from her own lips. 
He had talked hopefully with her of the future, and 
had encouraged her to expect a grand and immediate 
redress ; and now she was dead, worn out with sorrow, 
if with nothing worse, an object at least to make the 
dullest heart pity her, while of pity there was no sign. 
What was to be done? He himself had no doubt at 
all. The enemy was off his guard and now was the 
moment to strike. 

Anne Boleyn sent a message to Mary that she was 
ready, on her submission, to be her friend and a sec- 
ond mother to her. Mary replied that she would obey 
her father in everything, saving her honour and con- 
science, but that it was useless to ask her to abjure the 
Pope. She was told that the King himself would use 
his authority and command her to submit. She con- 
sulted Chapuys on the answer which she was to give 
should such a command be sent. He advised her to 
be resolute but cautious. She must ask to be left in 
peace to pray for her mother's soul; she must say that 
she was a poor orphan, without experience or know- 
ledge; the King must allow her time to consider. 
He himself despatched a courier to the Regent of the 
Netherlands with plans for her escape out of England. 
The Pope, he said, must issue his Bull without a day's 
delay, and in it, for the sake of Catherine's hon- 
our, it must be stated that she died queen. Instant 



384 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

preparations must be made for the execution of the 
sentence. Meanwhile he recommended the Emperor 
to send some great person to remonstrate against the 
Princess's treatment and to speak out boldly and se- 
verely. The late Queen, he wrote, used to say that 
the King and his advisers were like sheep to those 
who appeared like wolves, and lions to those who were 
afraid of them. Mildness at such a moment would 
be the ruin of Christendom. If the Emperor hesi- 
tated longer, those who showed no sorrow at the mo- 
ther's death would take courage to make an end with 
the daughter. There would be no need of poison. 
Grief and hard usage would be enough. 1 

The King with some hesitation had consented to 
Chapuys's request that Catherine's physician should 
be allowed to attend the Princess. The presence of 
this man would necessarily be a protection, and either 
Anne's influence was less supreme than the Ambassa- 
dor had feared or her sinister designs were a malicious 
invention. It is unlikely, however, that warnings so 
persistently repeated and so long continued should 
have been wholly without foundation, and, if the inner 
secrets of the Court could be laid open, it might be 
found that the Princess had been the subject of many 
an altercation between Anne and the King. Even 
Chapuys always acknowledged that it was from her, 
and not from Henry, that the danger was to be feared. 
He had spoken warmly of Mary, had shown affection 
for her when her behaviour threatened his own safety. 
He admired the force of character which she was 
showing, and had silenced peremptorily the Ministers 
who recommended severity. But if he was her father, 
he was also King of England. If he was to go 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Jan. 21 and Jan. 29. — Spanish Calendar, 
vol. v. part 2, pp. 10-26. 



Unpopularity of Anne Boleyn. 385 

through with his policy towards the Church, the un- 
disguised antagonism of a child whom three quarters 
of his subjects looked on as his legitimate successor, 
was embarrassing' and even perilous. Had Anne 
Boleyn produced the Prince so much talked of all 
would then have been easy. He would not then be 
preferring a younger daughter to an elder. Both would 
yield to a brother with whom all England would be 
satisfied, and Mary would cease to have claims which 
the Emperor would feel bound to advocate. The 
whole nation were longing for a prince ; but the male 
heir, for which the King had plunged into such a sea 
of troubles, was still withheld. He had interpreted 
the deaths of the sons whom Catherine had borne him 
into a judgment of Heaven upon his first marriage ; 
the same disappointment might appear to a super- 
stitious fancy to be equally a condemnation of the 
second. Anne Boleyn \s conduct during the last two 
years had not recommended her either to the country 
or perhaps to her husband. Setting aside the graver 
charges afterwards brought against her, it is evident 
that she had thrown herself fiercely into the political 
struggles of the time. To the Catholic she was a 
diablcsse, a tigress, the author of all the mischief 
which was befalling them and the realm. By the pru- 
dent and the moderate she was almost equally dis- 
liked; the nation generally, and even Reformers like 
Cromwell and Cranmer, were Imperialist; Anne 
Boleyn was passionately French. Personally she had 
made herself disliked by her haughty and arrogant 
manners. She had been received as Queen, after her 
marriage was announced, with coldness, if not with 
hostility. Had she been gracious and modest she 
might have partially overcome the prejudice against 
her. But she had been carried away by the vanity 



386 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

of her elevation ; she had insulted the great English 
nobles ; she had spoken to the Duke of Norfolk " as if 
he was a dog; " she had threatened to take off Crom- 
well's head. Such manners and such language could 
not have made Henry's difficulties less, or been pleas- 
ing to a sovereign whose authority depended on the 
goodwill of his people. He had fallen in love with an 
\m worthy woman, as men will do, even the wisest ; yet 
in his first affection he had not been blind to her 
faults, and, even before his marriage, had been heard 
to say that, if it was to be done again, he would not 
have committed himself so far. He had persisted, 
perhaps, as much from pride, and because he would 
not submit to the dictation of the Emperor, as from 
any real attachment. Qualities that he could respect 
she had none. Catherine was gone; from that con- 
nection he was at last free, even in the eyes of the 
Roman Curia ; but whether he was or was not married 
lawfully to Anne, was a doubtful point in the mind 
of many a loyal Englishman ; and, to the best of his 
own friends, to the Emperor, and to all Europe, his 
separation from a woman whom the Catholic world 
called his concubine, and a marriage with some other 
lady which would be open to no suspicion and might 
result in the much desired prince, would have been 
welcomed as a peace-offering. She had done nothing 
to reconcile the nation to her. She had left nothing 
undone to exasperate it. She was believed, justly or 
unjustly, to have endeavoured to destroy the Princess 
Mary. She was credited by remorseful compassion 
with having been the cause of her mother's death. 
The isolation and danger of England was all laid to 
her account. She was again enceinte. If a prince 
was born, all faults would be forgotten ; but she had 
miscarried once since the birth of Elizabeth, and a 



Anne and the Princess Mary. 387 

second misfortune might be dangerous. She had 
failed in her attempts to conciliate Mary, who, but 
for an accident, would have made good her escape out 
of England. When the preparations were almost 
complete the Princess had been again removed to an- 
other house, from which it was found impossible to 
carry her away. But Chapuys mentions that, glad 
as Anne appeared at the Queen's death, she was less 
at ease than she pretended. Lord and Lady Exeter 
had brought him a Court rumour of words said to have 
been uttered by the King, that "he had been drawn 
into the marriage by witchcraft ; God had shown his 
displeasure by denying him male children by her, and 
therefore he might take another wife." 

Lord and Lady Exeter were not trustworthy author- 
ities — on this occasion even Chapuys did not believe 
them — but stories of the kind were in the wind. It 
was notorious that everything was not well between 
the King and Lady Anne. A curious light is thrown 
on the state of Anne's mind by a letter which she 
wrote to her aunt, Mrs. Shelton, after Mary's rejec- 
tion of her advances. Mrs. Shelton left it lying open 
on a table. Mary found it, copied it, and replaced 
it, and the transcript, in Mary's handwriting, is now 
at Vienna. 

"Mrs. Shelton, — My pleasure is that you seek 
to go no further to move the Lady Mary towards the 
King's grace, other than as he himself directed in his 
own words to her. What I have done myself has been 
more for charity than because the King or I care what 
course she takes, or whether she will change or not 
change her purpose. When I shall have a son, as 
soon I look to have, I know what then will come to 
her. Remembering the word of God, that we should 



388 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

do good to our enemies, I have wished to give her no- 
tice before the time, because by my daily experience 
I know the wisdom of the King to be such that he will 
not value her repentance or the cessation of her mad- 
ness and unnatural obstinacy when she has no longer 
power to choose. She would acknowledge her errors 
and evil conscience by the law of God and the King 
if blind affection had not so sealed her eyes that she 
will not see but what she pleases. 

"Mrs. Shelton, I beseech you, trouble not yourself 
to turn her from any of her wilful ways, for to me she 
can do neither good nor ill. Do your own duty 
towards her, following the King's commandment, as 
I am assured that you do and will do, and you shall 
find me your good lady, whatever comes. 

"Your good Mistress, 

"Anne K." 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Funeral of Catherine — Miscarriage of Anne — The Princess Mary and 
the Act of Supremacy — Her continued desire to escape — Effect of 
Catherine's death on Spanish policy — Desire of the Emperor to 
recover the English alliance — Chapuys and Cromwell — Conditions 
of the treaty — Efforts of the Emperor to recover Henry to the 
Church — Matrimonial schemes — Likelihood of a separation of the 
King from Anne — Jane Seymour — Anne's conduct — The Imperial 
treaty — Easter at Greenwich — Debate in Council — The French 
alliance or the Imperial — The alternative advantages — Letter of 
the King to his Ambassador in Spain. 

Catherine was buried with some state in Peter- 
borough Cathedral, on the 29th of January. In the 
ceremonial she was described as the widow of Prince 
Arthur, not as the Queen of England, and the Span- 
ish Ambassador, therefore, declined to be present. On 
the same day Anne Boleyn again miscarried, and this 
time of a male infant. She laid the blame of her 
misfortune on the Duke of Norfolk. The King had 
been thrown from his horse ; Norfolk, she said, had 
alarmed her, by telling her of the accident too sud- 
denly. This Chapuys maliciously said that the King 
knew to be untrue, having been informed she had 
heard the news with much composure. The disap- 
pointment worked upon his mind; he said he saw 
plainly God would give him no male children by that 
woman; he went once to her bedside, spoke a few 
cold words, and left her with an intimation that he 
would speak to her again when she was recovered. 



390 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Some concluded that there was a defect in her consti- 
tution; others whispered that she had been irritated 
at attentions which the King had been paying to 
Jane Seymour, who in earlier days had been a lady- 
in-waiting to Catherine. Anne herself, according to 
a not very credible story of Chapuys's, was little dis- 
turbed ; her ladies were lamenting ; she consoled them 
by saying that it was all for the best ; the child that 
had been lost had been conceived in the Queen's life- 
time, and the legitimacy of it might have been doubt- 
fid ; no uncertainty would attach to the next. 1 It is 
not likely that Anne felt uncertain on such a point, 
or would have avowed it if she had. She might have 
reasons of her own for her hopes of another chance. 
Henry seemed to have no hope at all; he sent Cha- 
puys a message through Cromwell that Mary's situa- 
tion was now changed; her train should be increased, 
and her treatment improved — subject, however, of 
course, to her submission. 

Mary had made up her mind, under Chapuys's ad- 
vice, that if a prince was born, she would acknowledge 
the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Succession with 
a secret protest, as the Emperor had recommended 
her. She had no intention, however, of parting with 
her pretensions, and alienating her friends, as long 
as there was no brother whose claims she could not 
dispute. Chapuys had imagined, and Mary had be- 
lieved, that the Emperor would have resented the 
alleged poisoning of Catherine; that, instead of her 
death removing the danger of war, as Henry sup- 

1 " L'on m'a dicte que la Concubine consoloit ses demoiselles qui pleu- 
roient, leur disant que c'estoit pour le mieulx, car elle en seroit tant 
plus tost enceint ', et que le fils qu'elle pourterait ne seroit dubieulx 
comnie fust este icelle, estant conceu du vivant de la Royne." Chapuys 
to Granvelle, Feb. 25, 15:30. — MS. Vienna ; Calendar, Foreign and. 
Domestic, vol. x. p. 135. 



Intended Escape of Mary. 391 

posed, war had now become more certain than ever. 
With this impression, the Princess still kept her mind 
fixed on escaping out of the country, and continued to 
press Chapuys to take her away. She had infinite 
courage ; a Flemish ship was hovering about the mouth 
of the Thames ready to come up, on receiving notice, 
within two or three miles of Gravesend. The house 
to which she had been removed was forty miles from 
the place where she would have to embark; it was 
inconvenient for the intended enterprise, and was, 
perhaps, guarded, though she did not know it. She 
thought, however, that, if Chapuys would send her 
something to drug her women with, she could make 
her way into the garden, and the gate could be broken 
open. "She was so eager," Chapuys said, "that, if 
he had told her to cross the Channel in a sieve, she 
would venture it ; " the distance from Gravesend was 
the difficulty : the Flemish shipmaster was afraid to 
go higher up the river: a forty miles' ride would re- 
quire relays of horses, and the country through which 
she had to pass was thickly inhabited. Means, how- 
ever, might be found to take her down in a boat, and 
if she was once out of England, and under the Em- 
peror's protection, Chapuys was convinced that the 
King would no longer kick against the pricks. 

Mary herself was less satisfied on this point. 
Happy as she would be to find herself out of personal 
danger, she feared her father might still persist in his 
heresies, and bring more souls to perdition; "she 
woidd, therefore, prefer infinitely," she said, "the 
general and total remedy so necessary for God's ser- 
vice." She wished Chapuys to send another messen- 
ger to the Emperor, to stir him up to activity. But 
Chapuys, desperate of rousing Charles by mere en- 
treaties, encouraged her flight out of the country as 



392 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

the surest means of bringing Henry to a reckoning. 
The difficulty would not be very great; the King had 
shown an inclination to be more gentle with her ; Mrs. 
Shelton had orders to admit her mother's physician to 
her at any time that he pleased; and others of the 
household at Kimbolton were to be transferred to her 
service; these relaxations would make the enterprise 
much easier, and Chapuys was disposed to let it be 
tried. The Emperor's consent, however, was of 
course a preliminary condition, and his latest instruc- 
tions had been unfavourable. The Ambassador, 
therefore, referred the matter once more to Charles's 
judgment, adding only, with a view to his own safety, 
that, should the escape be carried out, his own share 
in it would immediately be suspected; and the King, 
who had no fear of anyone in the world, would un- 
doubtedly kill him. He could be of no use in the 
execution of the plot, and would, therefore, make an 
excuse to cross to Flanders before the attempt was 
made. 1 

Chapuys' s precipitancy had been disappointed be- 
fore, and was to be disappointed again ; he had worked 
hard to persuade Charles that Catherine had been 
murdered; Charles, by the manner in which he re- 
ceived the intelligence, showed that his Minister's 
representations had not convinced him. In sending 
word to the Empress that the Queen was dead, the 
Emperor said that accounts differed as to her last ill- 
ness : some saying that it was caused by an affection 
of the stomach, which had lasted for some days ; others 
that she had drunk something suspected to have con- 
tained poison. He did not himself say that he be- 
lieved her to have been poisoned, nor did he wish it 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 17, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. x. p. 11G. 



Advice of the Spanish Council. 393 

to be repeated as coming- from him. The Princess, he 
heard, was inconsolable; he hoped God would have 
pity on her. He had gone into mourning, and had 
ordered the Spanish Court to do the same. 1 

In Spain there was an obvious consciousness that 
nothing had been done of which notice could be taken. 
Had there been a belief that a Spanish princess had 
been made away with in England, as the consum- 
mation of a protracted persecution, so proud a people 
would indisputably have demanded satisfaction. The 
effect was exactly the opposite. Articles had been 
drawn by the Spanish Council for a treaty with France 
as a settlement of the dispute about Milan. One of 
the conditions was the stipulation to which Cromwell 
had referred in a conversation with Chapuys, that 
France was to undertake the execution of the Papal 
sentence and the reduction of England to the Church. 
The Queen being dead, the Emperor's Council recom- 
mended that this article should now be withdrawn, and 
the recovery of the King be left to negotiation. 2 In- 
stead of seeing in Catherine's death an occasion for 
violence, they found in it a fresh motive for a peace- 
ful arrangement. 

It was assumed that if the Princess escaped, and if 
Henry did not then submit, war would be the imme- 
diate consequence. The Emperor, always disinclined 
towards the "remedy" which his Ambassador had so 
long urged upon him, acted as Cromwell expected. 
The adventurous flight to Gravesend had to be aban- 
doned, and he decided that Mary must remain quiet. 
In protecting Catherine while alive he had so far be- 
haved like a gentleman and a man of honour. He 

1 Charles V. to the Emperor, Feb. 1, 1536. — Spanish Calendar, vol 
v. part 2, p. 33. 

2 Report of the Privy Council of Spain, Feb. 26, 1536. — Ibid. p. 60. 



394 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

was her nearest relation, and it was impossible for him 
to allow her to be pushed aside without an effort to 
prevent it. But as a statesman he had felt through- 
out that a wrong to his relation, or even a wrong to 
the Holy See, in the degraded condition of the Papacy, 
was no sufficient cause for adding to the confusions of 
Christendom. He had rather approved than con- 
demned the internal reforms in the Church of Eng- 
land: and, after taking time to reflect and perhaps 
inquire more particularly into the circumstances of 
Catherine's end, he behaved precisely as he would 
have done if he was satisfied that her death was nat- 
ural: he gave Chapuys to understand, in a letter 
from Naples, 1 that, if a fresh opening presented itself, 
he must take up again the abandoned treaty; and the 
secret interviews recommenced between the Ambassa- 
dor and the English Chief Secretary. 

These instructions must have arrived a week after 
the plans had been completed for Mary's escape, and 
Chapuys had to swallow his disappointment and obey 
with such heart as he could command. The first ap- 
proaches were wary on both sides. Cromwell said that 
he had no commission to treat directly ; and that, as 
the previous negotiations had been allowed to drop, 
the first overtures must now come from the Emperor; 
the Queen being gone, however, the ground of differ- 
ence was removed, and the restoration of the old alli- 
ance was of high importance to Christendom ; the King 
and the Emperor united could dictate peace to the 
world; France was on the eve of invading Italy, and 
had invited the King to make a simultaneous attack 
upon Flanders ; a party in the Council wished him to 
consent; the King, however, preferred the friendship 
1 Valenc'ar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 224. 



Negotiations for a Treaty. 395 

of the Emperor, and, Catherine being no longer alive, 
there was nothing to keep them asunder. 

Chapuys, who never liked the proposal of a treaty 
at all, listened coldly ; he said he had heard language 
of that kind before, and wished for something more 
precise ; Cromwell replied that he had been speaking 
merely his own opinion; he had no authority and, 
therefore, could not enter into details ; if there was to 
be a reconciliation, he repeated that the Emperor 
must make the advances. 

The Emperor, Chapuys rejoined, would probably 
make four conditions : the King must be reconciled to 
the Church as well as to himself ; the Princess must be 
restored to her rank and be declared legitimate; the 
King must assist in the war with the Turks, and the 
league must be offensive as well as defensive. 

Cromwell's answer was more encouraging than Cha- 
puys perhaps desired. The fourth article, he said, 
woidd be accepted at once, and on the third the King 
would do what he could; no great objection would be 
made to the second ; the door was open. Reconciliation 
with Rome woidd be difficult, but even that was not 
impossible. If the Emperor would write under his own 
hand to the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, and to 
the Duke of Richmond, who in mind and body singu* 
larly resembled his father, much might be done. 

A confidential Minister would not have ventured so 
far without knowing Henry's private views, and such 
large concessions were a measure of the decline of 
Anne Boleyn's influence. As regarded the Princess 
Mary, Chapuys had found that there was a real dis- 
position to be more kind to her, for the King had 
sent her a crucifix which had belonged to her mother, 
containing a piece of the true cross, which Catherine 



396 TJie Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. ■ 

had desired that she should have, 1 and had otherwise 
showed signs of a father's affection. 

The Emperor himself now appears upon the scene, 
and the eagerness which he displayed for a reconcilia- 
tion showed how little he had really seen to blame in 
Henry's conduct. So long as Catherine lived he was 
bound in honour to insist on her acknowledgment as 
queen; but she was gone, and he was willing to say 
no more about her. He saw that the intellect and 
energy of England were running upon the German 
lines. Chapuys, and perhaps other correspondents 
more trustworthy, had assured him that, if things 
went on as they were going, the hold of the Catholic 
Church on the English people would soon be lost. 
The King himself, if he wished it, might not be able 
to check the torrent, and the opinion of his vassals 
and his own imperious disposition might carry him to 
the extreme lengths of Luther. The Emperor was 
eager to rescue Henry before it was too late from the 
influences under which his quarrel with the Pope had 
plunged him. He praised Chapuys's dexterity; he 
was pleased with what Cromwell had said, and pro- 
ceeded himself to take up the points of the proposals. 

"The withdrawal of the King from the Church of 
Rome," he said, "was a matter of great importance. 
His pride might stand in the way of his turning back : 
he might be ashamed of showing a want of resolution 
before the world and before his subjects, and he was 
obstinate in his own opinions." Charles, therefore, 
directed Chapuys to lay before him such considerations 
as were likely to affect his judgment, the peril to his 
soul, the division and confusion sure to arise in his 
realm, and the evident danger should the Pope go on 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., Feb. 25, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. x. pp. 131 et seq. 



Proposal made by the Emperor. 397 

to the execution of the sentence and call in the assist- 
ance of the Princes of Christendom. Under the most 
favourable aspect, both he and his supporters would 
be held in continual anxiety; and, though he might be 
able to maintain what he had begun as long as he him- 
self lived, he could not do it without great difficulty, 
and would inevitably leave an inheritance of calamity 
to those who came after him. Chapuys was to advise 
him, therefore, to take timely measures for the secu- 
rity of the realm, and either refer his differences with 
the Pope to a General Council, or trust to Charles 
himself to negotiate for him with the Holy See, which 
he might assure himself that Charles woidd do on 
honourable and favourable terms. The chief objec- 
tions likely to be raised by Henry woidd be the Pope's 
sentence in the divorce case, the interests of his coun- 
try in the annates question, and other claims upon 
the realm which the Pope pretended. The first could 
be disposed of in the arrangement to be made for the 
Princess ; the annates could be moderated, and a limit 
fixed for the Pope's other demands; as to the supreme 
authority over the Church of England, Chapuys might 
persuade the King that the relative positions of the 
Crown and the Holy See might be determined to his 
own honour, and the profit and welfare of the realm. 1 
The Emperor, indeed, was obliged to add he could 
give no pledge to the prejudice of the Church without 
the Pope's consent, but Chapuys might promise that 
he would use his utmost exertions to bring about a 
reasonable composition. Charles evidently did not in- 
tend to allow the pretensions of the Papacy to stand in 
the way of the settlement of Europe. If the Ambas- 

1 " Et aussy quant a l'auctorite" de l'Eglise Anglicane 1'on pourroit 
persuader au Roy que la chose se appoineteroit a son honneur, proufit, 
et bien du royaulnie." 



398 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

sador saw that a reconciliation with Rome was hope- 
less, sooner than lose the treaty the Emperor was 
ready to consent to leave that point out in order to 
carry the others, provided the King did not require 
him directly to countenance what he had done. As to 
the Princess, care would have to be taken not to com- 
promise the honour of the late Queen, or the legiti- 
macy and rights of her daughter. If her father would 
not consent to recognise formally her claim on the 
succession, that too might be left in suspense till the 
King's death; and Charles was willing to undertake 
that, as long as Henry lived, no action was to be taken 
against him, and none permitted to be taken on the 
part of any one, not even of the Pope, to punish him 
for his treatment of Catherine — not though her end 
had been hastened, as some suspected, by sinister 
means. A marriage could be arranged for Mary be- 
tween the King and the Emperor; and, should the 
King himself decide to abandon the Concubine and 
marry again in a fit and convenient manner, Chapuys 
was to offer no opposition, and the Emperor said that 
he would not object to help him in conformity with 
the treaty. 1 

It was obvious to everyone that, if Henry separated 
from Anne, an immediate marriage with some other 
person would follow. Charles was already weighing 
the possibility, and when the event occurred it will be 
seen that he lost not a moment in endeavouring to 
secure Henry's hand for another of his own relations. 
Princes and statesmen are not scrupulous in arranging 
their political alliances, but, considering all that had 

1 1, e. as part of it. Charles V. to Chapuys, March 28, 1536. — MS. 
Vienna ; Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. pp. 224 et seq. ; 
Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, pp. 71 et seq. There are some dif- 
ferences in the translations in the two Calendars. When I refer to the 
MS. at Vienna I use copies made there by myself. 



Speculation on the King's Remarriage. 399 

happened and all that was about to happen, the readi- 
ness of Charles V. to bestow a second kinswoman on 
the husband of Queen Catherine may be taken to 
prove that his opinion of Henry's character was less 
unfavourable than that which is generally given by 
historians. 

Cromwell had been premature in allowing a prospect 
of the restoration of the Papal authority in England. 
Charles, in his eagerness to smooth matters, had sug- 
gested that a way might be found to leave the King 
the reality of the supremacy, while the form was left 
to the Pope. But no such arrangement was really 
possible, and Henry had gone on with his legislative 
measures against the Church as if no treaty was under 
consideration. Parliament had met again, and had 
passed an Act for the suppression of the smaller mon- 
asteries. That the Emperor should be suing to him 
for an alliance while he was excommunicated by the 
Pope, and was deliberately pursuing a policy which 
was exasperating his own clergy, was peculiarly agree- 
able to Henry, and he enjoyed the triumph which it 
gave him; a still greater triumph would be another 
marriage into the Imperial family ; and a wish that he 
should form some connection, the legality of which 
could not be disputed, was widely entertained and 
freely uttered among his own subjects. Chapuys, be- 
fore Charles's letter could have reached him, had 
been active in encouraging the idea. He had spoken 
to Mary about it, and Mary had been so delighted at 
the prospect of her father's separation from Anne, 
that she said she would rejoice at it, though it cost 
her the succession. 1 That the King was likely to part 
with Anne was the general talk of London. Chapuys 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 1, 1536,— Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol, x, p. 243, 



400 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

called on Cromwell, alluded to the rumour which had 
reached him, and intimated how much mischief would 
be avoided if the King could make up his mind to 
take another wife, against whom no objection could be 
brought. Cromwell said that he had never himself 
been in favour of the marriage with Anne, but, seeing 
the King; bent on it, he had assisted him to the best 
of his power; he believed, however, that, the thing 
having been done, the King would abide by it; he 
might pay attentions to other ladies, .but they meant 
nothing. 

Cromwell's manner seemed peculiar, and Chapuys 
observed him more closely. The Secretary was lean- 
ing against a window, turning away his face as if to 
conceal a smile. There had been a report that some 
French princess was being thought of, and perhaps 
Chapuys made some allusion to it; for Cromwell said 
that Chapuys might assure himself that, if the King 
did take another wife, he would not look for her in 
France. 

The smile might have had a meaning which Cha- 
puys could not suspect. The Secretary was by this 
time acquainted with circumstances in Anne's conduct 
which might throw another aspect on the situation, 
but the moment had not come to reveal them. It is 
likely enough that the King had been harassed and 
uncertain. The air was thick with stories claiming- 
to be authentic. Lady Exeter had told Chapuys that 
the King had sent a purse and a letter to Jane Sey- 
mour, of whom Anne had been jealous. Jane Sey- 
mour had returned the letter unopened and the money 
along with it, and had prayed the bearer to say to the 
King that he must keep his presents till she made 
some honourable marriage. 

Lady Exeter and her friends made their own com- 



Position of Anne Boleyn. 401 

ments. Anne's enemies, it was said, were encoura- 
ging the intimacy with Jane, and had told the lady to 
impress upon the King that the nation detested his con- 
nection with Anne and that no one believed it lawful ; 
as if it was likely that a woman in the position in 
which Jane Seymour was supposed to stand could have 
spoken to him on such a subject, or would have rec- 
ommended herself to Henry, if she did. At the same 
time it is possible and even probable that Henry, ob- 
serving her quiet, modest and upright character, may 
have contrasted her with the lady to whom he had 
bound himself, may have wished that he coidd change 
one for the other, and may even have thought of doing- 
it; but that, as Cromwell said, he had felt that he 
must make no more changes, and must abide by the 
destiny which he had imposed on himself. 1 

For, in fact, it was not open to Henry to raise the 
question of the lawfulness of his marriage with Anne, 
or to avail himself of it if raised by others. He had 
committed himself far too deeply, and the Parliament 
had been committed along with him, to the measures 
by which the marriage was legalised. Yet Anne's 
ascendancy was visibly drawing to an end, and clouds 
of a darker character were gathering over her head. 
In the early days of her married life outrageous libels 
had been freely circulated, both against her and 
against the King. Henry had been called a devil. 
The Duke of Norfolk had spoken of his niece as a 
grande putaine. To check these effusive utterances 
the severest penalties had been threatened by procla- 
mation against all who dared to defame the Queen's 
character, and no one had ventured to whisper a word 
against her. But her conduct had been watched ; light 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 1, 1536, — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol, x. p. 242, 



402 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

words, light actions had been observed and carefully 
noted. Her overbearing manner had left her without 
a friend save her own immediate connections and per- 
sonal allies. "Men's mouths had been shut when 
they knew what ought not to have been concealed." 1 
A long catalogue of misdeeds had been registered, 
with dates and particulars, treasured up for use by the 
ladies of the household, as soon as it should become 
safe to speak; and if her conduct had been really as 
abandoned as it was afterwards alleged to have been, 
the growing alienation of the King may be easily un- 
derstood. It was impossible for any woman to have 
worn a mask so long and never to have given her 
husband occasion for dissatisfaction. Incidents must 
have occurred in the details of daily life, if not to 
rouse his suspicions, yet to have let him see that the 
woman for whom he had fought so fierce a battle had 
never been worth what she had cost him. 

Anne Boleyn's fortunes, however, like Catherine's, 
were but an episode in the affairs of England and of 
Christendom, and the treaty with the Emperor was 
earnestly proceeded with as if nothing was the matter. 
The great concerns of nations are of more consequence 
to contemporary statesmen than the tragedies or com- 
edies of royal households. Events rush on ; the pub- 
lic interests which are all-absorbing while they last 
are superseded or forgotten ; the personal interests re- 
main, and the modern reader thinks that incidents 
which most affect himself must have been equally ab- 
sorbing to every one at the time when they occurred. 
The mistake is natural, but it is a mistake notwith- 
standing. The great question of the hour was the 
alternative alliance with the Empire or with France, 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, June 2, 153(5, vol. x. pp. 4'28 et 
seq. 



Negotiations for a Treaty with the Emperor. 403 

and the result to be expected from the separation of 
England from Rome. 

The Emperor wrote, as Cromwell had suggested, 
to the three Dukes. Chapuys paid Cromwell a visit 
at his country-house in the middle of April, to dis- 
cuss again the four conditions. Cromwell had laid 
them before the King, and had to report his answer. 
The reconciliation with Rome was declared impossible. 
Henry said that the injuries to England by the Pope's 
sentence had been too great, and the statutes too recent 
to be repealed. The Pope himself was now making 
overtures, and was disposed to gratify the King as 
much as possible. Something, therefore, might be 
done in the future, but for the present the question 
could not be entertained. Cromwell offered to show 
the Ambassador the Pope's letters, if he wished to see 
them. Chapuys observed sarcastically that, after all 
that had passed, the King ought to be highly gratified 
at finding his friendship solicited by the Pope and the 
Emperor, the two parties whom he had most offended . 
It might be hoped that, having enjoyed his triumph, 
the King would now recollect that something was due 
to the peace of Christendom. Cromwell did not at- 
tempt a repartee, and let the observation pass. He 
said, however, that he hoped much from time. On 
the other points, all consideration would be shown for 
the Princess, but the King could not consent to make 
her the subject of an article in the treaty; no diffi- 
culty would be made about assistance in the Turkish 
war ; as to France, the Council were now unanimous 
in recommending the Imperial alliance, and had repre- 
sented their views to the King. The King was paus- 
ing over his resolution, severely blaming the course 
which Francis was pursuing, but less willing to break 
with France than Cromwell had himself expected. 



404 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Francis, Cromwell said, had stood by the King as a 
friend in the worst of his difficulties, and the King 
did not like to quarrel with him; he, however, in- 
tended to speak to Chapuys himself. 

The Court was keeping Easter at Greenwich, and 
thither the Ambassador repaired. Easter Sunday 
falling on the 16th of April, the Chapter of the Gar- 
ter was to be held there, and the assembly was large 
and splendid. Anne Boleyn was present in state as 
Queen, with her brother Lord Rochford, the demea- 
nour of both of them undisturbed by signs of ap- 
proaching storm. When Chapuys presented himself, 
Rochford paid him particular attention. The Am- 
bassador had been long absent from the Court circle. 
Cromwell told him that the King would be pleased if 
he would now pay his respects to Anne, which he had 
never hitherto done, adding that, if he objected, it 
would not be insisted on. Chapuys excused himself. 
For various reasons, he said, he thought it not desir- 
able. Cromwell said that his answer would be taken 
in good part, and hoped that the rest of their business 
would run smoothly. 

Henry himself passed by as Cromwell was speaking 
to Chapuys. He bowed, took off his cap, and mo- 
tioned to the Ambassador to replace his own. He 
then inquired after his health, asked how the Emperor 
was, how things were going in Italy — in short, was 
particularly courteous. 

Service followed in the chapel. Rochford con- 
ducted Chapuys thither, and, as his sister was to be 
present and an encounter could not be avoided, people 
were curious to see how she and the Ambassador 
would behave to each other. Anne was "affable" 
enough, and curtseyed low as she swept past. 

After mass the Kim:' and several members of the 



Easter at Greenwich. 405 

Council dined in Anne's [apartments. As it was pre- 
sumed that Chapuys would not desire to form one of 
the party, he was entertained by the household. Anne 
asked why he had not been invited. The King said 
there was reason for it. 

Dinner over, Henry led Chapuys into his private 
cabinet, Cromwell following- with the Chancellor 
Audeley. No one else was present at the beginning 
of the conference. The King drew the Ambassador 
apart into a window, when Chapuys again produced 
at length his four points. The King listened patiently 
as Chapuys expatiated on the action of the French, 
remarking only that Milan and Burgundy belonged to 
France and not to the Emperor. The observation 
showed Chapuys that things were not yet as he could 
have wished. He inquired whether, if the treaty was 
made, England would be prepared to assist the Em- 
peror should France attack the Duke of Gueldres. 
Henry answered that he would do his part better than 
others had done their parts with him; he then called 
up Cromwell and Audeley, and made Chapuys repeat 
what he had said. This done, Chapuys withdrew to 
another part of the room, and fell into conversation 
with Sir Edward Seymour, who had since entered. 
He left Henry talking earnestly with the two Minis- 
ters, and between him and them Chapuys observed 
that there was a strong difference of opinion. The 
King's voice rose high. Cromwell, after a time, left 
him, and, saying that he was thirsty, seated himself 
on a chest out of the King's sight and asked for water. 
The King* then rejoined the Ambassador, and told 
him that his communications were of such importance 
that he must have them in writing. Chapuys objected 
that this was unusual. He had no order to write 
anything, and dared not go beyond his instructions. 



406 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Henry was civil, but persisted, saying that he could 
give no definite answer till he had the Emperor's offer 
in black and white before him. Generally, however, 
he said that his quarrel with Rome did not concern the 
Emperor. If he wished to treat with the Pope, he 
could do it without the Emperor's interposition; the 
Princess was his daughter, and would be used accord- 
ing to her deserts ; a subvention for the Turkish war 
might be thought of when the alliance with Charles 
was renewed. Finally he said that he would not re- 
fuse his friendship to those who sought it in becoming- 
terms, but he was not a child, to he whipped first and 
then caressed and invited back again and called sweet 
names. He drummed with his finger on his knees as 
he spoke. He insisted that he had been injured and 
expected an acknowledgment that he had been injured. 
The overtures, he repeated, must come from the Em- 
peror. The Emperor must write him a letter re- 
questing him to forget and forgive the past, and no 
more should then be said about it; but such a letter 
he must and would have. Chapuys restrained his 
temper. He said it was unreasonable to expect the 
Emperor to humiliate himself. Henry only grew 
more excited, called Charles ungrateful, declared that 
but for himself he would never have been on the Im- 
perial throne, or even have recovered his authority in 
Spain when the commons had revolted; and, in re- 
turn, the Emperor had stirred up Pope Clement to 
deprive him of his kingdom. 

Chapuys said it was not the Emperor's doing. The 
Pope had done it himself, at the solicitation of other 
parties. 

So the conference ended, and not satisfactorily. 
Henry was not a child to be whipped and caressed. 
Charles wanted him now, because he was threatened 



Easter at Greenwich. 407 

by France; and he, of his own judgment, preferred 
the Imperial alliance, like the rest of his countrymen ; 
but Charles had coerced the Pope into refusing a con- 
cession which the Pope had admitted to be just, and 
the King knew better than his Council that the way 
to secure the Emperor's friendship was not to appear 
too eager for it. 

The sharpness with which the King had spoken dis- 
appointed and even surprised Cromwell, who, when 
the audience was over, could hardly speak for vexa- 
tion. His impression apparently was that the French 
faction had still too much influence with the King, 
and the French faction was the faction of Anne. He 
recovered his spirits when Chapuys informed him of 
the concessions which the Emperor was prepared to 
make, and said that he still hoped for "a good result." 

The next morning, Wednesday, 19th of April, the 
Privy Council met again in full number. They sate 
for three hours. The future of England, the future of 
Europe, appeared to them at that moment to be hang- 
ing on the King's resolution. They went in a body 
to him and represented on their knees that they be- 
lieved the Imperial alliance essential to the safety of 
the country, and they implored him not to reject a 
hand so unexpectedly held out to him on a mere point 
of honour. Henry, doubtless, felt as they did. Since 
his quarrel with Charles he had hardly known a quiet 
hour ; he had been threatened with war, ruin of trade, 
interdict, and internal rebellion. On a return to the 
old friendship the sullen clergy, the angry Peers, 
would be compelled into submission, for the friend on 
whom they most depended would have deserted them; 
the traders would no longer be in alarm for their ven- 
tures; the Pope and his menaces would become a 
laughingstock, and in the divorce controversy the right 



408 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

would be tacitly allowed to have been with the King, 
since it was to be passed over without being men- 
tioned. Immense advantages. But the imperious 
pride of Henry insisted on the form as well as the 
substance — on extorting a definite confession in 
words as well as a practical acknowledgment. All 
the troubles which had fallen on him — the quarrel 
with the Papacy, the obstinate resistance of Catherine 
and Mary, the threats of invasion, and insurrection — 
he looked upon as Charles's work. It was true that 
the offered friendship was important to England, but 
England's friendship was important to the Emperor, 
and the Emperor must ask for it. He told the kneel- 
ing Councillors that he would sooner lose his crown 
than admit, even by implication, that he had given 
Charles cause to complain of him. He was willing to 
take the Emperor's hand, but he would not seek or sue 
for it. The Emperor himself must write to him. 

Cromwell, in describing what had passed to Chapuys, 
said that he was sorry that things had gone no better, 
but that he was not discouraged. The King had di- 
rected him to thank Chapuys for his exertions, and, 
for himself, he trusted that the Ambassador would 
persevere. If the Emperor would send even a letter 
of credit the King would be satisfied. In all his 
private conversations, although he had taken the re- 
sponsibility on himself, he had acted under the King's 
instructions. The Ambassador asked him, if this was 
so, what could have caused the change. He answered 
that kings had humours and peculiarities of their own, 
unknown to ordinary mortals. In spite of what had 
passed, the King was writing at that moment to 
Francis, to require him to desist from his enterprise 
against Italy. 

Chapuys replied that he would endeavour to obtain 



Easter at Greenwich. 409 

the letter from the Emperor which the King de- 
manded. He wrote to Charles, giving- a full and per- 
haps accurate account of all that had passed; but 
he ended with advice of his own which showed how 
well Henry had understood Chapuys's own character, 
and the slippery ground on which he was standing. 
Chapuys had disliked the treaty with England from 
the beginning. He told his master that Henry's real 
purpose was to make him force out of the Pope a re- 
vocation of the sentence on the divorce. He recom- 
mended the Emperor once more to leave Henry to reap 
the fruit of his obstinacy, to come to terms with 
France, and allow the Pope to issue the Bull of De- 
position — with a proviso that neither he nor Francis 
would regard any child as legitimate whom the King 
might have, either by the Concubine or by any other 
woman whom he might marry during the Concubine's 
life, unless by a dispensation from the Pope, which 
was not likely to be asked for. He did not venture 
to hope that the Emperor would agree, but such a 
course, he said, would bring the King to his senses, 
and force woidd be unnecessary. 1 

To Granvelle the Ambassador wrote more briefly to 
the same purpose. "God knew," he said, "how he 
had worked to bring the King to a right road; but he 
had found him unspeakably obstinate. The King 
seemed determined to compel the Emperor to ac- 
knowledge that Clement's sentence had been given 
under pressure from himself. Cromwell had behaved 
like an honest man, and had taken to his bed for sor- 
row. Cromwell knew how necessary the Emperor's 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 21, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. x. pp. 287 et seq. ; Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, pp. 
85 et seq. 



410 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

friendship was to the King, but God or the Devil was 
preventing it." 1 

Henry gave his own version of the story to the Eng- 
lish Ministers at Charles's court. 

"The Emperor's Ambassador," he said, "has been 
with us at Greenwich with offers to renew the alli- 
ance, the conditions being that he would allow the 
Emperor to reconcile us with the Pope, that we will 
declare our daughter Mary legitimate and give her a 
place in the succession, that we will help him against 
the Turks, and declare war against France should 
France invade Milan. 

"Our answer was that the breach of amity came 
first from the Emperor himself. We gave him the 
Imperial crown when it lay with us to dispose of. 
We lent him money in his difficulties, etc. In re- 
turn he has shown us nothing but ingratitude, stirring 
the Bishop of Rome to do us injury. If he will by 
express writing desire us to forget his unkind doings, 
or will declare that what we consider unkindness has 
been wrongly imputed to him, we will gladly embrace 
his overtures; but as we have sustained the wrong 
we will not be suitors for reconciliation. As to the 
Bishop of Rome, we have not proceeded on such slight 
grounds as we would revoke or alter any part of our do- 
ings, having laid our foundation on the Law of God, 
nature, and honesty, and established our work there- 
upon with the consent of the Estates of the Realm in 
open and high court of Parliament. A proposal has 
been made to us by the Bishop himself which we have 
not yet embraced, nor would it be expedient that a 
reconciliation should be compassed by any other means. 
We should not think the Emperor earnestly desired a 
1 April 21.— Calendar, Foreign and Domestic. 



Easter at Greenwich. 411 

reconciliation with us, if he desired us to alter any- 
thing for the satisfaction of the Bishop of Rome, our 
enemy. 

"As to our daughter Mary, if she will submit to 
the laws we will acknowledge and use her as our 
daughter; but we will not be directed or pressed 
therein. It is as meet for us to order things here 
without search for foreign advice as for the Emperor 
to determine his affairs without our counsel. About 
the Turks, we can come to no certain resolution; but 
if a reconciliation of the affairs of Christendom en- 
sue, we will not fail to do our duty. Before we can 
treat of aid against the French King the amity with 
the Emperor must first be renewed." 1 

1 Henry VIII. to Pate, April 25, 1536. Abridged. — Calendar, For- 
eign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 306. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Easter at Greenwich — French and Imperial factions at the English 
court — Influence of Anne Boleyn — Reports of Anne's conduct sub- 
mitted to the King — Flying rumours — Secret Commission of In- 
quiry — Arrests of various persons — Sir Henry Norris and the 
King — Anne before the Privy Council — Sent to the Tower — Her 
behaviour and admissions — Evidence taken before the Commission 
— Trials of Norris, Weston, Brereton, and Smeton — Letter of Wes- 
ton — Trial of Anne and her brother — Executions — Speech of 
Rochford on the scaffold — Anne sentenced to die — Makes a con- 
fession to Cranmer — Declared to have not been the King's lawful 
wife — Nature of the confession not known — Execution. 

At the moment when the King- was bearing him- 
self so proudly at the most important erisis of his reign, 
orthodox historians require us to believe that he was 
secretly contriving to rid himself of Anne Boleyn by 
a foul and false accusation, that he might proceed im- 
mediately to a new marriage with another lady. Men 
who are meditating enormous crimes have usually nei- 
ther leisure nor attention for public business. It is as 
certain as anything in history can be certain that to 
startle Europe with a domestic scandal while mighty 
issues were at stake on which the fate of England de- 
pended was the last subject with which England's King- 
was likely to have been occupied. He was assuming 
an attitude of haughty independence, where he would 
need all his strength and all the confidence of his sub- 
jects. To conspire at such a moment against the hon- 
our and life of a miserable and innocent woman woidd 
have occurred to no one who was not a maniac. Ru- 



Easter at Greenwich. 413 

mour had been busy spreading stories that he was weary 
of Anne and meant to part with her; but a few days 
previously he had dissolved the Parliament which for 
seven years had been described as the complacent in- 
strument of his will. He could not be equally assured 
of the temper of another, hastily elected, in the un- 
easy condition of the public mind ; and, without a Par- 
liament, he could take no action which would affect 
the succession. However discontented he might be 
with his present Queen, the dissolution of Parliament 
is a conclusive proof that at the time of Chapuys's visit 
to Greenwich he was not contemplating a matrimonial 
convulsion. Probably, in spite of all the stories set 
flowing into Chapuys's long ears by the ladies of the 
household, he had resolved to bear his fortune, bad as 
it was, and was absolutely ignorant of the revelation 
which was about to break upon him. Husbands are 
proverbially the last to know of their wives' infideli- 
ties ; and the danger of bringing charges which could 
not be substantiated against a woman in Anne's po- 
sition would necessarily keep every lip shut till the 
evidence could be safely brought forward. Cromwell 
appears to have been in possession of important in- 
formation for many weeks. The exposure, however, 
might still have been delayed, but for the unfavour- 
able answer of the King to the Emperor's advances, 
which had so much distressed the advocates of a re- 
newal of the amity. France was now going to war, 
and making large offers for the English alliance. 
Henry, though his affection for Anne had cooled, still 
resented the treatment which he had received from 
Charles, and had a fair opportunity of revenging him- 
self. The wisest of his Ministers were against Conti- 
nental adventures, and wished him earnestly to accept 
the return of a friendship the loss of which had cost the 



414 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

country so dear. But the French faction at the court, 
Anne and her relations, and the hot-tempered young 
men who surrounded him, were still able to work upon 
his wounded pride. Could they plunge the country 
into war at the side of Francis, they would recover 
their ascendancy. Any day might see some fatal step 
taken which could not be recovered. Both Anne and 
Roehford were bold, able, and unscrupulous, and 
Cromwell, with a secret in his hand which would de- 
stroy them, saw that the time was come to use it. 

That it was not accident which connected the out- 
burst of the storm on Anne's head with the political 
negotiations is certain from Cromwell's own words. 
He told Chapuys that it was the disappointment which 
he had felt at the King's reply to him on the Wednes- 
day after Easter that had led him to apply the match 
to the train. 1 

A casual incident came to his assistance. A Privy 
Councillor, whose name is not mentioned, having re- 
marked sharply on the light behaviour of a sister who 
was attached to the court, the young lady admitted 



1 "Et que a luy avoit este l'auctorite de descouvrir et parachever 
les affairs de la dicte Concubine, en quoy il avoit eu une merveilleuse 
pene ; et que sur le desplesir et courroux qu'il avoit eu sur le reponse 
que le Roy son maistre m'avoit donn^ le tiers jour de Pasques il se mit 
a fantasier et conspirer le diet affaire," etc. Chapuys to Charles V., 
June 6, 153(3. — MS. Vienna ; Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, p. 137. 
From the word " conspirer " it has been inferred that the accusation of 
Anne and her accomplices was a conspiracy of Cromwell's, got up in 
haste for an immediate political purpose. Cromwell must have been 
marvellously rapid, since within four days he was able to produce a 
case to lay before a Special Commission composed of the highest per- 
sons in the realm assisted by the Judges, involving the Queen and a 
still powerful faction at the court. We are to believe, too, that he had 
the inconceivable folly to acknowledge it to Chapuys, the most danger- 
ous person to whom such a secret could be communicated. Cromwell 
was not an idiot, and it is impossible that in so short a time such an 
accumulation of evidence could have been invented and prepared so 
skilfully as to deceive the Judges. 






Easter at Greenwich. 415 

her offence, but said it was nothing in comparison 
with the conduct of the Queen. She bade her bro- 
ther examine Mark Smeton, a groom of the chamber 
and a favourite musician. 1 The Privy Councillor re- 
lated what he had heard to two friends of the King, of 
whom Cromwell must have been one. The case was 
so serious that they agreed that the King must be in- 
formed. They told him. He started, changed colour, 
thanked them, and directed an inquiry to be held in 
strict secrecy. The ladies of the bedchamber were 
cross-questioned. Lady Worcester 2 was "the first 
accuser." "Nan Cobham"and a maid gave other 
evidence; but "Lady Worcester was the first 
ground." 3 

Nothing was allowed to transpire to disturb the 
festivities at Greenwich. On St. George's Day, 
April 23, the Queen and her brother received an in- 
timation that they were in less favour than usual. 
The Chapter of the Garter was held. An order was 
vacant; Anne asked that it should be given to Lord 
Rochford, and the request was refused; it was con- 
ferred on her cousin, Sir Nicholas Carew, to her great 
vexation. In this, however, there was nothing to alarm 
her. The next day, the 24th, a secret committee was 
appointed to receive depositions, consisting of the 
Chancellor, the Judges, Cromwell, and other mem- 
bers of Council; and by this time whispers were 
abroad that something was wrong, for Chapuys, writ- 
ing on the 29th of April, said that "it would not be 
Carew 's fault if Anne was not out of the saddle before 
long, as he had heard that he was daily conspiring 



1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, June 2, vol. x. p. 428. 

2 Daughter of Sir Anthony Brown, Master of the Horse. 

3 John Husee to Lady Lisle, May 24, 1536, — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. x. p. 397. 



416 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

against her and trying to persuade Mistress Seymoui 
and her friends to work her ruin. Four days ago 
[i. e. on April 25] Carew and other gentlemen sent 
word to the Princess to take courage, as the King was 
tired of the Concubine and would not endure her 
long." 1 Geoffrey Pole, Reginald's brother, a loose- 
tongued gentleman, told Chapuys that the Bishop of 
London (Stokesley ) had been lately asked whether the 
King could dismiss the Concubine; the Bishop had 
declined to give an opinion till the King asked for it, 
and even then would not speak till he knew the King's 
intention. The Bishop, Chapuys said, was one of the 
promoters of the first divorce, and was now penitent, 
the Concubine and all her family being accursed Lu- 
therans. 2 

Such stories were but surmise and legend. I insert 
them to omit nothing which may be construed into 
an indication of conspiracy. The Commission mean- 
while was collecting facts which grew more serious 
every day. On Thursday, the 27th, Sir William 
Brereton, a gentleman of the King's Privy Chamber, 
was privately sent to the Tower, and on the 30th was 
followed thither by the musician Smeton. The next 
morning, the 1st of May, High Festival was held at 
Greenwich. A tournament formed a part of the cer- 
emony, with the Court in attendance. Anne sate in 
a gallery as Queen of the day, while her knights broke 
lances for her, caring nothing for flying scandal, and 
unsuspecting the abyss which was opening under her 
feet. Sir Henry Norris and Lord Rochford were in 
the lists as defender and challenger, when, suddenly, 
the King rose ; the pageant was broken up in confu- 
sion ; Henry mounted his horse and, followed by a 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., April 29. — Spanish Calendar, p. 105. 

2 Bid. 



Easter at Greenwich. 417 

small train, rode off for London, taking Norris with 
him. Sir Henry Norris was one of Henry's most 
intimate personal friends. He was his equerry, and 
often slept in his room or in an adjoining closet. The 
inquiries of the Commission had not yet implicated 
him as a principal, but it had appeared that circum- 
stances were known to him which he ought to have 
revealed. The King promised to forgive him if he 
would tell the truth, but the truth was more than he 
could dare to reveal. On the following day he, too, 
was sent to the Tower, having been first examined 
before the Commissioners, to whom — perhaps misled 
by some similar hope of pardon held out to him by 
Sir William Fitzwilliam — he confessed more than it 
was possible to pardon, and then withdrew what he 
had acknowledged. 1 So far, Smeton only had con- 
fessed to " any actual thing," and it was thought the 
King's honour would be touched if the guilt of the 
rest was not proved more clearly. 

Anne had been left at Greenwich. On the next 
morning she was brought before the Council there, 
her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, presiding. She was 
informed that she was charged with adultery with 
various persons. Her answers, such as they were, the 
Duke set aside as irrelevant. She complained after- 
wards that she had been " cruelly handled " by the 
Council. It was difficult not to be what she would 
consider cruel. She, too, was conducted up the river 
to the Tower, where she found that to Smeton and 
Brereton and Norris another gentleman of the house- 
hold, Sir Francis Weston, had now been added. A 
small incident is mentioned which preserves a lost 
practice of the age. " On the evening of the day on 
which the Concubine was sent to the Tower, the Duke 
1 History of England, vol. ii. p. 454. 



418 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

of Richmond went to his father to ask his blessing, 
according to the English custom. The King said, in 
tears, that he, and his sister the Princess, ought to 
thank God for having escaped the hands of that 
woman, who had planned to poison them." * 

Chapuys made haste to inform the Emperor of the 
welcome catastrophe. The Emperor, he said, woidd 
recollect the expressions which he had reported as 
used by Cromwell regarding the possible separation 
of the King and the Concubine. Both he and the 
Princess had been ever since anxious that such a sepa- 
ration should be brought about. What they had de- 
sired had come to pass better than any one could have 
hoped, to the great disgrace of the Concubine, who, 
by the judgment of God, had been brought in full 
daylight from Greenwich to the Tower, in charge of 
the Duke of Norfolk and two chamberlains. Report 
said it was for continued adultery with a spinet-player 
belonging to her household. The player had been 
committed to the Tower also, and, after him, Sir H. 
Norris, the most familiar and private companion of 
the King, for not having revealed the matter. 2 

Fresh news poured in as Chapuys was writing. 
Before closing his despatch lie was able to add that 
Sir Francis Weston and Lord Rochford were arrested 
also. The startling story flew from lip to lip, gather- 
ing volume as it went. Swift couriers carried it to 
Paris. Viscount Hannaert, the Imperial Ambassador 
there, 3 wrote to GranveLle that Anne had been sur- 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 19, 1536. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
part 2, p. 125. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., May 2, 153G. — MSS. Vienna; Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 330 ; Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 2, 
p. 107. 

8 In transcribing the MS. twenty years ago at Vienna I mistook the 
name for Howard, which it much resembled in the handwriting of the 



In the Tower. 419 

prised in bed with the King's organist. 1 In the course 
of the investigation, witnesses had come forward to 
say that nine years previously a marriage had been 
made and consummated between Anne and Percy, 
Earl of Northumberland. Percy, however, swore, and 
received the sacrament upon it, before the Duke of 
Norfolk and the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, 
that no contract or promise of marriage of any kind 
had passed between them. 2 Anne's attendants in the 
Tower had been ordered to note what she might say. 
She denied that she was guilty, sometimes with hys- 
terical passion, sometimes with a flighty levity ; but 
not, so far as he 1* words are recorded, with the clear- 
ness of conscious innocence. She admitted that with 
Norris, Weston, and Smeton she had spoken foolishly 
of their love for herself, and of what might happen 
were the King to die. Smeton, on his second exami- 
nation, confessed that he had on three several occa- 
sions committed adultery with the Queen. Norris 
repudiated his admissions to Sir William Fitzwilliam 
— what they were is unknown — and offered to main- 
tain his own innocence and the Queen's with sword 
and lance. Weston and Brereton persisted in absolute 
denial. 

Meanwhile the Commission continued to take evi- 
dence. A more imposing list of men than those who 
composed it could not have been collected in England. 
The members of it were the Lord Chancellor, the 
Duke of Norfolk, the Duke of Suffolk, Lord Wilt- 



time. I am reminded correctly that there was no Viscount Howard in 
the English Peerage. 

1 " Le Visconte Hannaert a escript au Sr de Granvelle que au mesme 
instant il avoit entendu de bon lieu que la concubine du diet Roy avoit 
este" surprise couchee avec l'organiste du diet Roy." 

2 The Earl of Northumberland to Cromwell, May 13, 1536. — Calen- 
dar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 356. 



420 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

shire, Anne's and Rochford's father, the Earls of 
Oxford, Westmoreland, and Sussex, Lord Sandys, 
Thomas Cromwell, Sir William Fitzwilliam, the Lord 
High Admiral, Sir William Paulet, Lord Treasurer, 
and nine judges of the courts at Westminster. Be- 
fore these persons the witnesses were examined and 
their depositions written down. "The confessions," 
Cromwell wrote afterwards to Gardiner, " were so 
abominable that a great part of them were not given 
in evidence, but were clearly kept secret." 1 

The alleged offences had been committed in two 
counties. The Grand Juries of Kent and Middlesex 
returned true bills on the case presented to them. On 
the 7th of May writs were sent out for a new Parlia- 
ment, to be chosen and to meet immediately. The 
particular charges had been submitted to the Grand 
Juries with time, place, and circumstance. The de- 
tails have been related by me elsewhere. 2 In general 
the indictment was that for a period of more than two 
years, from within a few weeks after the birth of 
Elizabeth to the November immediately preceding, 
the Queen had repeatedly committed acts of adultery 
with Sir Henry Norris, Sir William Brereton, Sir 
Francis Weston, Mark Smeton, and her brother Lord 
Rochford. In every case the instigation and solicit- 
ing were alleged to have been on the Queen's side. 
The particulars were set out circumstantially, the time 
at which the solicitations were made, how long an in- 
terval elapsed between the solicitation and the act, 
and when and where the several acts were committed. 
Finally it was said that the Queen had promised to 
marry some one of these traitors whenever the King 

1 Cromwell to Gardiner, July 5, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. xi. p. 17. 

2 History of England, vol. ii. p. 470. 



Evidence before the Commission. 421 

depart this life, affirming that she would never love 
the King in her heart. 

Of all these details evidence of some kind must 
have been produced before the Commission, and it was 
to this that Cromwell referred in his letter to Gardi- 
ner. The accused gentlemen were all of them in sit- 
uations of trust and confidence at the court, with easy 
access to the Queen's person, and, if their guilt was 
real, the familiarity to which they were admitted 
through their offices was a special aggravation of their 
offences. 

In a court so jealous, and so divided, many eyes 
were on the watch and many tongues were busy. None 
knew who might be implicated, or how far the Queen's 
guilt had extended. Suspicion fell on her cousin, Sir 
Francis Bryan, who was sharply examined by Crom- 
well. Suspicion fell also on Anne's old lover, Sir 
Thomas Wyatt, Surrey's friend, to whom a letter sur- 
vives, written on the occasion by his father, Sir Henry. 
The old man told his son he was sorry that he was too 
ill to do his duty to his King in that dangerous time 
when the King had suffered by false traitors. He 
prayed God long to give him grace, to be with him 
and about him that had found out the matter, and the 
false traitors to be punished to the example of others. 1 

Cranmer had been much attached to Anne. The 
Catholic party being so bitter against her, she had 
made herself the patroness of the Protestant preach- 
ers, and had protected them against persecution. The 
Archbishop had regarded her as an instrument of 
Providence, and when the news reached him of the 
arrest and the occasion of it he was thunderstruck. 
He wrote an anxious and beautiful letter to the King, 

1 Sir Henry Wyatt to Thomas Wyatt, May 7, 1536. — Calendar, For- 
eign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 345. " Him " refers to Cromwell. 



422 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

expressing a warm belief and hope that the Queen 
would be able to clear herself. Before he could send 
it he was invited to meet the Council in the Star 
Chamber. On his return he added a postscript that 
he was very sorry such faults could be proved by the 
Queen as he heard of their relation. 1 

On Friday, the 12th of May, the four commoners 
were brought up for trial. The Court sat in West- 
minster Hall, Lord Wiltshire being on the bench with 
the rest. Their guilt, if proved, of course involved the 
guilt of his daughter. The prisoners were brought to 
the bar and the indictment was read. Smeton pleaded 
guilty of adultery, but not guilty of the inferential 
charge of compassing the death of the King. The 
other three held to their denial. Weston was married. 
His mother and his young wife appeared in court, 
" oppressed with grief," to petition for him, offering 
" rents and goods " for his deliverance ; 2 but it could 
not avail. The jury found against them all, and they 
were sentenced to die. Two letters to Lord and Lady 
Lisle from a friend in London convey something of 
the popular feeling. 

" John Husee to Lady Lisle. 

May 13. 
" Madam, I think verily if all the books and chron- 
icles were totally revolved and to the uttermost perse- 
cuted and tried, which against women hath been 
penned, contrived, and written since Adam and Eve, 
those same were, I think, verily nothing in comparison 
of that which hath been done and committed by Anne 
the Queen, which though I presume be not all things 
as it is now rumoured, yet that which hath been by 

1 History of England, vol. ii. pp. 459-462. 

2 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 430. 



Trial of Sir Francis Weston. 423 

her confessed, and other offenders with her, by her 
own alluring, procurement, and instigation, is so abom- 
inable and detestable, that I am ashamed that any good 
woman should give ear thereunto. I pray God give 
her grace to repent while she now liveth. I think not 
the contrary but she and all they shall suffer." 2 

" To Lord Lisle. 

Same date. 

" Here are so many tales I cannot tell what to write. 
Some say young Weston shall scape, and some that 
none shall die but the Queen and her brother ; others, 
that Wyatt and Mr. Page are as like to suffer as the 
rest. If any escape, it will be young Weston, for 
whom importunate suit is made." 

Great interest was felt in Sir F. Weston. The 
appearance of his wife and mother in court had created 
general compassion for him. He was young, rich, 
accomplished. He was well known in Paris, had been 
much liked there. M. d'Intevelle, who had been his 
friend, hurried over to save him, and the Bishop of 
Tarbes, the resident Ambassador, earnestly interceded. 
Money, if money could be of use, was ready to be 
lavished. But like Norris, Weston had been distin- 
guished by Henry with peculiar favour ; and if he 
had betrayed the confidence that was placed in him he 
had nothing to plead which would entitle him to spe- 
cial mercy. A letter has been preserved, written by 
Weston to his family after his sentence, inclosing an 
inventory of his debts, which he desired might be 
paid. If any one can believe, after reading it, that 
the writer was about to die for a crime of which he 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 357. 



424 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

knew that he was innocent, I shall not attempt to 
reason with such a person. 

" Father, mother, and wife, 

" I shall humbly desire you, for the salvation of my 
soul, to discharge me of this bill, and forgive me all 
the offences that I have done unto you, and in especial 
to my wife, which I desire for the love of God to for- 
give me and to pray for me ; for I believe prayer will 
do me good. God's blessing have my children and 
mine. 

" By me, a great offender to God." 1 

On Sunday the 14th a report of the proceedings up 
to that moment was sent by Cromwell to Sir John 
Wallop and Gardiner at Paris. The story, he said, 
was now notorious to every one, but he must inform 
them further how the truth had been discovered and 
how the King had proceeded. The Queen's inconti- 
nent living was so rank and common that the ladies of 
the Privy Chamber could not conceal it. It came to 
the ears of some of the Council, who told his Majesty, 
though with great fear, as the case enforced. Certain 
persons of the household and others who had been 
about the Queen's person were examined ; and the 
matter appeared so evident that, besides the crime, 
there brake out a certain conspiracy of the King's 
death, which extended so far that they that had the 
examination of it quaked at the danger his Grace was 
in, and on their knees gave God laud and praise that 
he had preserved him so long from it. Certain men 
were committed to the Tower, Mark and Norris, and 
the Queen's brother. Then she herself was appre- 

1 Autograph letter of Sir Francis Weston, May 3, 1536. — Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 358. 






Trial of Anne Boleyn. 425 

hencled ; after her, Sir Francis Weston and Brereton. 
Norris, Weston, Brereton, and Mark were already 
condemned to death, having- been arraigned at West- 
minster on the past Friday. The queen and her 
brother were to be arraigned the next day. He wrote 
no particulars. The things were so abominable that 
the like was never heard. 1 

Anne Boleyn was already condemned by implication. 
The guilt of her paramours was her own. She herself 
was next brought to the bar, with her brother, to be 
tried by the Peers. The court was held at the Tower. 
Norfolk presided as High Steward. Lord Wiltshire 
was willing to sit, but the tragedy was terrible enough 
without further aggravation, and the world was spared 
the spectacle of a father taking part in the conviction 
of his own children on a charge so hideous. The Earl 
of Northumberland did sit, though ill from anxiety 
and agitation. Twenty-five other Peers took their 
places also. 

The account of the proceedings is preserved in out- 
line in the official record ; a further detailed descrip- 
tion was furnished by Chapuys to the Emperor, con- 
taining new and curious particulars. 

On Monday the 15th of May, Chapuys wrote, the 
Concubine and her brother were condemned for trea- 
son by the principal nobles of England. The Duke 
of Norfolk passed sentence, and Chapuys was told 
that the Earl of Wiltshire was ready to assist at the 
trial, as he had done at that of the rest. The putaine 
and her brother were not taken to Westminster, as 
the others had been, but were brought to the bar at 
the Tower. No secret was made of it, however, for 
over two thousand persons were present. The princi- 

1 Cromwell to Wallop and Gardiner, May 14, 153G. — Calendar, For- 
eign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 359. 



426 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

pal charge against her was that she had cohabited 
with her brother and the other accomplices, that a 
promise had passed between her and Norris that she 
would marry him after the King's decease — a proof 
that they had desired his death ; that she had ex- 
changed medals with Norris, implying that they were 
leagued together; that she had poisoned the late 
Queen, and intended to poison the Princess. 1 To 
most of these charges she returned an absolute denial ; 
others she answered plausibly, but confessed having 
given money to Weston and to other gentlemen. She 
was likewise charged, and the brother also, with hav- 
ing ridiculed the King, showing in many ways she had 
no love for him, and was tired of her life with him. 
The brother was accused of having had connection 
with his sister. No proof of his guilt Was produced, 
except that of having been once alone with her for 
many hours, and other small follies. He replied so 
well that many who were present were betting two to 
one he would be acquitted. 

Another charge against him was that the Concubine 
had told his wife that the King was unequal to his 
duties. 2 This was not read out in court ; it was given 

1 " Qu'elle avoit faict empoissoner la feue Royneet machyne' de faire 
de raesrae a la Princesse." Chapuys was not present, but was writing 
from report, and was not always trustworthy. No trace is found of 
these accusations in the Record, but they may have been mentioned in 
the pleadings. 

2 " Que le Roy n'estoit habille en cas de copuler avec femme, et qu'il 
n'avoit ni vertu ni puissance." Historians, to make their narrative 
coherent, assume an intimate acquaintance with the motives for each 
man's or woman's actions. Facts may be difficult to ascertain, but 
motives, which cannot be ascertained at all uidess when acknowledged, 
they are able to discern by intuition. They have satisfied themselves 
that the charges against Anne Boleyn were invented because the King 
wished to marry Jane Seymour. I pretend to no intuition myself. I 
do not profess to be wise beyond what I find written. In this instance 
I hazard a conjecture — a conjecture merely — which occurred to me 
long ago as an explanation of some of the disasters of Henry's mar- 



Trial of the Queen and her Brother. 427 

to Rochford in writing, with a direction not to make 
it public, but to say merely yes or no. To the great 
annoyance of Cromwell and others, who did not wish 
suspicions to be created which might prejudice the 
King's issue, Rochford read it aloud. 1 

He was accused also of having used words implying 
a doubt whether Anne's daughter was the King's, to 
which he made no answer. 

The brother and sister were tried separately and 
did not see each other. The Concubine was sentenced 
to be burnt alive or beheaded, at the King's pleasure. 
When she heard her fate she received it calmly, say- 
ing that she was ready to die, but was sorry that 
others who were innocent and loyal should suffer on 
her account. She begged for a short respite, to dis- 
pose her conscience. The brother said that, since die 
he must, he would no longer plead " not guilty," but 
would confess that he deserved death, and requested 
only that his debts might be paid out of his property. 2 

Two days after the trial of the Queen and Rochford, 
the five gentlemen suffered on Tower Hill. The Con- 

riages, and which the words, alleged to have been used by Anne to 
Lady Rochford, tend, protanto, to confirm. 

Henry was already showing signs of the disorder which eventually 
killed him. Infirmities in his constitution made it doubtful, both to 
others and to himself, whether healthy children, or any children at all, 
would in future be born to him. It is possible — I do not say more — 
that Anne, feeling that her own precarious position could only be made 
secure if she became the mother of a prince, had turned for assistance 
in despair at her disappointments to the gentlemen by whom she was 
suwounded. As an hypothesis, this is less intolerable than to suppose 
her another Messalina. In every instance of alleged offence the solici- 
tation is said to have proceeded from herself, and to have been only 
yielded to after an interval of time. 

1 " Au grand despit de Cromwell et d'aucungs autres qui ne voul- 
droient en cest endroit s'engendroit suspicion qui pourroit prejudiquer 
a la lign^e que le diet Roy pretend avoir.' — MSS. Vienna- 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., May 19, 1536. —MSS. Vienna; Spanish 
Calendar, vol. v. part 2, pp. 122 et seq. In one or two instances my 
translation will be found to differ slightly from that of S r Gayangas. 



428 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

cubine, wrote Chapuys, saw them executed from the 
windows of the Tower, to enhance her misery. The 
Lord Rochford declared himself innocent of every- 
thing with which he was charged, although he con- 
fessed that he had deserved death for having contam- 
inated himself with the new sects of religion, and for 
having infected many others. For this he said that 
God had justly punished him. He prayed all the 
world to keep clear of heresy, and his words would 
cause the recovery and conversion of innumerable 
souls. 1 This is a good instance of Chapuys' s manner, 
and is a warning against an easy acceptance of his 
various stories. It is false that Rochford declared 
himself innocent of the adultery. It is false that he 
said that he deserved death for heresy. He said no- 
thing — not a word — about heresy. What he did 
say is correctly given in Wriothesley's Chronicle, which 
confirms the report sent from London to the Regent 
of the Netherlands. 2 The Spanish writer says that 
his address was " muy bien Catolica" but it will be 
seen that he carefully avoided a denial of the crime 
for which he suffered. 

" Masters all, I am come hither not to preach a 
sermon, but to die, as the law hath found me, and to 
the law I submit me, desiring you all, and specially 
my masters of the Court, that you will trust in God 
specially, and not in the vanities of the world ; for if 
I had so done I think I had been alive as ye be now. 
Also I desire you to help to the setting forth of the 
true Word of God ; I have been diligent to read it 
and set it forth truly ; but if I had been as diligent 
to observe it and clone and lived thereafter as I was to 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 19. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. part 
2, p. 128. 

2 History of England, vol. ii. p. 483. 



Executions. 429 

read it and set it forth, I had not come hereto. 
Wherefore I beseech you all to be workers and live 
thereafter, and not to read it and live not thereafter. 
As for my offences, it cannot avail you to hear them 
that I die here for ; but I beseech God that I may be 
an example to you all, and that all you may beware 
by me, and heartily I require you all to pray for me 
and to forgive me if I have offended you, and I for- 
give you all, and God save the king." l 

Of the other four, Smeton and Brereton admitted 
the justice of their sentence, Brereton adding that, if 
he had to die a thousand deaths, he deserved them all. 
Norris was almost silent. Weston lamented in gen- 
eral terms the wickedness of his past life. From not 
one of the five came the indignant repudiation of a 
false accusation which might have been surely looked 
for from innocent men, and especially to be looked for 
when the Queen's honour was compromised along with 
theirs. 

A Protestant spectator of the execution, a follower 
of Sir H. Norris, and a friend and schoolfellow of 
Brereton, said that at first he and all other friends of 
the Gospel had been unable to believe that the Queen 
had behaved so abominably. " As he might be saved 
before God, he could not believe it, till he heard them 
speak at their death ; but in a manner all confessed 
but Mr. Norris, who said almost nothing at all." 2 

Dying men hesitate to leave the world with a lie on 
their lips. It appears to me, therefore, that these five 
gentlemen did not deny their guilt, because they knew 
that they were guilty. The unfortunate Anne was 
still alive ; and while there was life there was hope. 

1 Wriothesley , s Chronicle (Camden Society's Publications), vol. i. p. 
39. 

2 Constantino's Memorial. — Archieologia, vol. xxiii. pp. 63-66. 



430 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

A direct confession on their part would have been a 
confession for her as well as themselves, and they did 
not make it ; but, if they were really innocent, that 
they should have suffered as they did without an effort 
to clear themselves or her is one more inexplicable 
mystery in this extraordinary story. 

Something even more strange was to follow. 

At her trial Anne had been " unmoved as a stone, 
and had carried herself as if she was receiving some 
great honour." She had been allowed a chair, and 
had bowed to the Peers as she took her seat. She 
said little, " but her face spoke more than words, 
and no one to look on her would have thought her 
guilty." " She protested that she had not miscon- 
ducted herself." When Norfolk delivered sentence 
her face did not change. She said merely that she 
would not dispute the judgment, but appealed to God. 1 
Smeton had repeated his own confession on the scaf- 
fold. She turned pale when she was told of it. " Did 
he not acquit me of the infamy he has laid on me ? " 
she said. " Alas, I fear his soul will suffer for it ! " 2 

But she had asked for time to prepare her con- 
science and for spiritual help ; she called herself a 
Lutheran, and on the Tuesday, the day after her trial, 
Cranmer went to the Tower to hear her confession. 
She then told the Archbishop something which, if 
true, invalidated her marriage with the King ; if she 
had not been his wife, her intrigues were not techni- 
cally treason, and Cranmer perhaps gave her hope 
that this confession might save her, for she said after- 
wards to Sir William Kingston that she expected to 
be spared and woidd retire into a nunnery. 3 The con- 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, June 2, vol. x. p. 430. 

2 Rid. p. 431. 

3 Kingston to Cromwell, May 16, 1530. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. x. p. 371. 



Tlie Lambeth Sentence. 431 

fession, whatever it might be, was produced on the 
following day by the Archbishop sitting judicially at 
Lambeth, 1 and was there considered by three eccle- 
siastical lawyers, who gave as their opinion that she 
had never been the King's lawful wife, and this opin- 
ion was confirmed by the Chancellor, the Duke of 
Suffolk, the Earl of Oxford, and a committee of 
bishops. The confession itself belonged to the secrets 
which Cromwell described as " too abominable to be 
made known," and was never published. The judg- 
ment of the Archbishop itself was ratified on the 28th 
of June by the two Houses of Convocation. It was 
laid before Parliament and was made the basis of a 
new arrangement of the succession. But the Statute 
merely says " that God, from whom no secret things 
could be hid, had caused to be brought to Hffht evi- 
dent and open knowledge of certain impediments un- 
known at the making of the previous Act, and since 
that time confessed by the Lady Anne before the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, sitting judicially for the 
same, whereby it appeared that the marriage was never 
good nor consonant to the laws." 

Conjecture was, of course, busy over so singular a 
mystery. Some said that the Archbishop had declared 
Elizabeth to have been Norris's bastard, and not the 
daughter of the King. Others revived the story of 
Henry's supposed intrigue with Anne's sister, Mary, 
and Chapuys added a story which even he did not 
affect to believe, agreeable as it must have been to 
him. " Many think," he said, " that the Concubine had 
become so audacious in vice, because most of the new 
bishops had persuaded her that she need not go to 
confession ; and that, according to the new sect, it was 
lawful to seek aid elsewhere, even from her own rela- 

1 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 7- 



432 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

tions, when her husband was not able to satisfy her." 1 
The Wriothesley Chronicle says positively that, on 
the 17th of May, in the afternoon, at a solemn court 
kept at Lambeth by the Archbishop of Canterbury 
and the doctors of the law, the King was divorced 
from his wife, Queen Anne ; and there at the same 
court was a privy contract approved that she had made 
to the Earl of Northumberland, afore the King's time, 
and so she was discharged, and was never lawful 
Queen of England. 2 

There are difficulties in accepting either of these 
conjectures. Chapuys, like Dr. Lingard after him, 
decided naturally for the hypothesis most disgraceful 
to the King. The Mary Boleyn story, authoritatively 
confirmed, at once covered Henry's divorce process 
with shame, and established the superior claim of 
Mary to the succession. 3 But in the Act of Parlia- 
ment the cause is described as something unknown in 
1533, when the first Statute was passed : and the al- 
leged intrigue had then been the common subject of 
talk in Catholic circles and among the Opposition 
members of Parliament. The Act says that the cause 

1 Chapuys to Granvelle, May 19, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. x. p. 380. 

2 Wriothesley 's Chronicle, vol. i. pp. 40, 41. 

3 Chapuys's words are worth preserving. He was mistaken in his 
account of the Statute. It did not declare Mary legitimate, and it left 
Henry power to name his own successor should his marriage with Jane 
Seymour prove unfruitful. So great an error shows the looseness with 
which he welcomed any story which fell in with his wishes. He says : 
" Le statut declairant la Princesse legitime heretiere, la fille de la Con- 
cubine, a este" revoque, et elle declaire' bastarde, nan point comme fille 
de M. Norris, comme se pouvoit plus honnestement dire, mais pour 
avoir est^ la marriage entre la dicte Concubine et le diet Roy illegitime 
a cause qu'il avoit cogneu chamellement la sceur de la dicte Concubine : 
pour laquelle cause TArchevesque de Canterburi, ung ou deux jours 
avant que la dicte Concubine fut executed, donna et prefera la sentence 
de divorce, de quoy, comme Fcavez trop mieulx, n'estoit grand be- 
soign, puisque l'ep^e et la mort les auroit proehainement et absolument 



The Lambeth Sentence. 433 

was a fact confessed by the Lady Anne. The Lady 
Anne might confess her own sins, but her confession 
of the sins of others was not a confession at all, and 
could have carried no validity unless supported by 
other evidence. Chapuys's assertion requires us to sup- 
pose that Henry, being informed of Anne's allegation, 
consented to the establishment of his own disgrace by 
making it the subject of a legal investigation ; that 
he thus himself allowed a crime to be substantiated 
against him which covered him with infamy, and which 
no other attempt was ever made to prove. How did 
Chapuys know that this was the cause of the divorce 
of Anne ? If it was communicated to Parliament, it 
must have become the common property of the realm, 
and have been no longer open to question. If it was 
not communicated, but was accepted by Parliament, 
itself on the authority of the Council, who were Cha- 
puys's informants, and how did they know ? Under 
Chapuys's hypothesis the conduct of King, Council, 
Parliament, and Convocation becomes gratuitous folly 
— folly to which there was no temptation and for 
which there was no necessity. The King had only to 
deny the truth of the story, and nothing further would 
have been made of it. The real evidence for the 
liaison with Mary Boleyn is the ineradicable convic- 
tion of a certain class of minds that the most probable 
interpretation of every act of Henry is that which 
most combines stupidity and wickedness. To argue 
such a matter is useless. Those who believe without 
reason cannot be convinced by reason. 

divorces : et puisque aussy le vouloient faire, le pretext east este" plus 
hunneste d'alleguer qu'elle avoit este mair^e a aultre encores vivant. 
Mais Dieu a voulu descouvrir plus grande abomination, qui est plus que 
inexcusable aetendu qu'il ne peut alleguer ignorance neqne juris neque 
facti. Dieu veuille que telle soit la fin de toutes ses folies ! " Chapuys 
a Granvelle, July 8, 1536. — MS. Vim,, a. 



434 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

The Northumberland explanation is less improba- 
ble, but to this also there are many objections. North- 
umberland himself had denied on oath, a few days be- 
fore, that any contract had ever passed between Anne 
and himself. If he was found to have perjured him- 
self, he would have been punished, or, at least, dis- 
graced ; yet, a few months later, in the Pilgrimage of 
Grace, he had the King's confidence, and deserved it 
by signal loyalty. The Norris story is the least un- 
likely. The first act of criminality with Anne men- 
tioned in the indictment was stated to have been 
committed with Norris four weeks after the birth of 
Elizabeth, and the intimacy may have been earlier ; 
while the mystery observed about it may be better 
accounted for, since, if it had been avowed, Eliza- 
beth's recognition as the King's daughter would have 
made ever after impossible, and the King did believe 
that she was really his own daughter. 

But here, again, there is no evidence. The expla- 
nation likeliest of all is that it was something differ- 
ent from each of these — one of the confessions which 
had been kept back as " too abominable." It is idle 
to speculate on the antecedents of such a woman as 
Anne Boleyn. 

If she had expected that her confession would 
save her, she was mistaken. To marry a king after 
a previous unacknowledged intrigue was in those days 
constructive treason, since it tainted the blood royal. 1 
The tragedy was wound up on Friday, the 19th of 
May; the scene was the green in front of the Tower. 
Foreigners were not admitted, but the London citi- 
zens had collected in great numbers, and the scaffold 
had been built high that everyone might see. The 
Chancellor, the Duke of Suffolk, the young Duke of 

1 This was distinctly laid down in the case of Catherine Howard. 



Execution of Anne Boleyn. 435 

Richmond — then himself sick to death — Cromwell, 
and other members of the Council, wex-e present by 
the King's order. Throughout the previous day Anne 
had persisted in declaring her innocence. In the 
evening she had been hysterical, had talked and 
made jokes. The people would call her " Queen 
Anne sans tete" she said, and " laughed heartily." 
In the morning at nine o'clock she was led out by 
Sir William Kingston, followed by four of her ladies. 
She looked often over her shoulder, and on the fatal 
platform was much " amazed and exhausted." 

When the time came for her to speak, she raised 
her eyes to heaven and said, " Masters, I submit me 
to the law, as the law has judged me, and as for my 
offences, I accuse no man. God knoweth them. I 
remit them to God, beseeching him to have mercy on 
my soul. I beseech Jesu save my sovereign and 
master, the King, the most godly, noble, and gentle 
Prince there is." * She then laid her head on the 
block and so ended ; she, too, dying without at the 
last denying the crime for which she suffered. Of 
the six who were executed not one made a protesta- 
tion of innocence. If innocent they were, no similar 
instance can be found in the history of mankind. 

1 Wriotheslei/ , s Chronicle, pp. 41, 42. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Competition for Henry's hand — .Solicitations from France and from 
the Emperor — Overtures from the Pope — Jane Seymour — General 
eagerness for the King's marriage — Conduct of Henry in the in- 
terval before Anne's execution — Marriage with Jane Seymour — 
Universal satisfaction — The Princess Mary — Proposal for a Gen- 
eral Council — Neutrality of England in the war between France 
and the Empire. 

Human nature is said to be the same in all ages 
and countries. Manners, if it be so, signally vary. 
Among us, when a wife dies, some decent interval is 
allowed before her successor is spoken of. The exe- 
cution for adultery of a Queen about whom all Eu- 
rope had been so long and so keenly agitated might 
have been expected to be followed by a pause. No 
pause, however, ensued after the fall of Anne Boleyn. 
If Henry had been the most interesting and popular 
of contemporary princes, there could not have been 
greater anxiety to secure his vacant hand. Had he 
been the most pious of Churchmen, the Pope could 
not have made greater haste to approach him with 
offers of friendship. There was no waiting even for 
the result of the trial. No sooner was it known that 
Anne had been committed to the Tower for adultery 
than the result was anticipated as a certainty. It 
was assumed as a matter of course that the Kino- 
would instantly look for another wife, and Francis 
and the Emperor lost not a moment in trying each to 



Competition for Henry's Hand. 437 

be beforehand with the other. M. cTInteville had 
come over to intercede for Sir Francis Weston, but he 
brought a commission to treat for a marriage between 
Henry and a French princess. To this overture the 
King replied at once that it could not be, and, accord- 
ing to Chapuys, added ungraciously, and perhaps 
with disgust, that he had experienced already the 
effects of French education. 1 The words, perhaps, 
were used to Cromwell, and not to the French Am- 
bassador ; but Chapuys was hardly less surprised 
when Cromwell, in reporting them, coolly added that 
the King could not marry out of the realm, because, 
if a French princess misconducted herself, they could 
not punish her as they had punished the last. 2 The 
Ambassador did not understand irony, and was natu- 
rally startled, for he had received instructions to make 
a similar application on behalf of his own master. 
Charles was eager to secure the prize, and, anticipat- 
ing Anne's fate, he despatched a courier to Chapuys 
on hearing of her arrest, with orders to seize the oppor- 
tunity. " If Hannaert's news be true," he wrote on 
the 15th of May, the day of the trial at Westminster, 
" the King, now that God has permitted this woman's 
damnable life to be discovered, may be more inclined 
to treat with us, and there may be a better founda- 
tion for an arrangement in favour of the Princess. 



1 " Le Roy respondit qu'il avoit trop experiment^ en la diete Concu- 
bine, que e'estoit de la nourriture de France." Chapuys a l'Empereur, 
June <i. — MS. Vienna. 

2 " Me diet qu'icelluy Baily de Troyes et l'autre Ambassadeur avoi- 
ent propose 1 le mariage de l'aisnee fille de France avec ce Roy, mais que 
e'estoit peine perdue. Car ce Roy ne se marieroit oncques hors de son 
royaulme, et, luy demandant raison pourquoy, il m'en dit avec assez 
mine assurance que se venant a mesfaire de son corps une Reine estran- 
gere qui fut de grand sang et parentage, l'on ne pourroit chastier et 
s'en faire quitte comme il avoit fait de la derniere." Chapuys a l'Em- 
pereur, — MS. Vienna, June 6. 



438 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

But you must use all your skill to prevent a marriage 
with France. The King should rather choose one of 
his own subjects, either the lady for whom he has 
already shown a preference or some other." 

So far Charles had written when Chapuys's messen- 
ger arrived with later news. " George has just come," 
the Emperor then continued, " and I have heard from 
him what has passed about the Concubine. It is sup- 
posed that she and the partners of her guilt will be 
executed, and that the King, being of amorous com- 
plexion and anxious, as he has always pretended, for 
a male heir, will now marry immediately. Overtures 
will certainly be made to him from France. You will 
endeavour, either as of yourself or through Cromwell, 
to arrange a match for him with the Infanta of Portu- 
gal, my niece, who has a settlement by will of 400,000 
ducats. Simultaneously you will propose another mar- 
riage between the Princess Mary and the Infant of 
Portugal, Don Louis, my brother-in-law. You will 
point out that these alliances will remove past un- 
pleasantness, and will unite myself, the King, and our 
respective countries. You will show the advantage 
that will accrue to the realm of England should a 
Prince be the result, and we may reasonably hope 
that it will be so, the Infanta being young and well 
nurtured. If you find the King disinclined to this 
marriage, you may propose my niece, the Duchess 
Dowager of Milan, a beautiful young lady with a good 
dowry." 1 

On the same 15th of May Granvelle, no less eager, 
wrote to Chapuys also. " M. TAmbassadeur, my good 
brother and friend, I have received your letters and 
have heard what your messenger had to tell me. You 

1 Charles V. to Chapuys, May 15, 1536. — MS. Vienna ; Calendar, 
Foreign and Domestic, vol. x. p. 370. 



Competition for Henry's Hand. 439 

have done well to keep us informed about the Concu- 
bine. It is indeed fine music and food for laughter. 1 
God is revealing the iniquity of those from whom so 
much mischief has risen. We must make our profit of 
it, and manage matters as the Emperor directs. Use 
all your diligence and dexterity. Immense advantage 
will follow, public and private. You will yourself not 
fail of your reward for your true and faithful ser- 



vices 



" 2 



So anxious was Charles for fresh matrimonial ar- 
rangements with Henry, that he wrote again to the 
same purpose three days later — a strange wish if he 
believed Catherine to have been murdered, or her suc- 
cessor to be on the eve of execution because the King 
was tired of her. To Charles and Granvelle, as to 
Chapnys himself, the unfortunate Anne was the Eng- 
lish Messalina. The Emperor and all the contem- 
porary world saw in her nothing but a wicked woman 
at last detected and brought to justice. 3 

What came of these advances will be presently 
seen ; but, before proceeding, a glance must be given 
at the receipt of the intelligence of Anne's fall at the 
Holy See. This also was chose de rire. Chapuys 
had sent to Rome in the past winter a story that 
Henry had said Anne Boleyn had bewitched him. 
The Pope had taken it literally, and had supposed 
that when the witch was removed the enchantment 
would end. He sent for Sir Gregory Casalis on the 
17 th of May, and informed him of what he had heard 
from England. He said that he had always recog- 
nised the many and great qualities of the King ; and 



1 " Qui a la verity est une musique de hault genre et digne de rire." 

2 MS. Vienna- 

3 Chapuys to Granvelle, May 19, 153(5. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. x. p. 380. 



440 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

those qualities he did not doubt would now show 
themselves, as he had been relieved from his unfortu- 
nate marriage. Let the King reattach himself to 
Holy Church and take the Pope for an ally ; they 
could then give the law both to the Emperor and to 
the King of France, and the entire glory of restoring 
peace to Christendom would attach to Henry himself. 
The King, he said, had no cause to regard him as an 
enemy ; for he had always endeavored to be his friend. 
In the matrimonial cause he had remonstrated in 
private with his predecessor. At Bologna he had 
argued for four hours with the Emperor, trying to 
persuade him that the King ought not to be interfered 
with. 1 Never had he desired to offend the King, al- 
though so many violent acts had been done in England 
against the Holy See. He had made the Bishop of 
Rochester a cardinal solely with a view to the General 
Council, and because the Bishop had written a learned 
book against Luther. On the Bishop's execution, he 
had been compelled to say and do certain things, but 
he had never intended to give effect to them. 

If the Pope had thought the King to have been 
right in his divorce suit, it was not easy to understand 
why he had excommunicated him and tried to deprive 
him of his crown because he had disobeyed a judg- 
ment thus confessed to have been unjust. Casalis 
asked him if he was to communicate what he had said 
to the King. The Pope, after reflecting a little, said 
that Casalis might communicate it as of himself ; that 
he might tell the King that the Pope was well-dis- 

1 "In causa matrimonii et in consistoriis et publice et privatim apud 
Clementem VII. se omnia quae potuit pro vestra Majestate egisse : et 
Bononiae Imperatori per horas quatuor accurate persuadere conatum 
fuisse, non esse Majestatem vestram per illam causam impugnandam." 
Sir Gregory Casalis to Henry VIII., May 27, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign 
and Domestic, vol. x. pp. 40(1 et seq. 



Overtures from Rome. 441 

posed towards him, and that he might expect every 
favour from the Pope. Casalis wrote in consequence 
that on the least hint that the King desired a recon- 
ciliation, a Nuncio would be sent to England to do 
everything that could be found possible ; after the 
many injuries which he had received, opinion at Rome 
would not permit the Pope to make advances until he 
was assured that they would be well received ; but 
some one would be sent in Casalis's name bringing 
credentials from his Holiness. 

Never since the world began was a dastardly as- 
sassination, if Anne Boleyn was an innocent woman, 
rewarded with so universal a solicitation for the friend- 
ship of the assassin. In England the effect was the 
same. Except by the Lutherans, Anne had been uni- 
versally hated, and the king was regarded with the 
respectful compassion due to a man who had been 
cruelly injured. The late marriage had been tolerated 
out of hope for the birth of the Prince who was so 
passionately longed for. Even before the discovery 
of Anne's conduct, a considerable party, with the 
Princess Mary among them, had desired to see the 
King separated from her and married to some other 
respectable woman. Jane Seymour had been talked 
about as a steady friend of Catherine, and, when 
Catherine was gone, of the Princess. The King had 
paid her attentions which, if Chapuys's stories were 
literally true — as probably they were not — had 
been of a marked kind. In all respects she was the op- 
posite of Anne. She had plain features, pale complex- 
ion, a low figure — in short, had no personal beauty, 
or any pretensions to it, with nothing in her appear- 
ance to recommend her, except her youth. She was 
about twenty-five years of age. She was not witty 
either, or brilliant ; but she was modest, quiet, with a 



442 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

strong understanding and rectitude of principle, and, 
so far as her age and her opportunities allowed, she 
had taken Mary's part at the court. Perhaps this 
had recommended her to Henry. Whether he had 
himself ever seriously thought of dismissing Anne 
and inviting Jane Seymour to take her place is very 
dubious ; nor has anyone a right to suppose that under 
such conditions Jane Seymour would have regarded 
such a proposal as anything but an insult. How soon 
after the detection of Anne's crime the intention was 
formed is equally uncertain. 1 Every person at home 
and abroad regarded it as obvious that he must marry 
some one, and marry at once. He himself professed 
to be unwilling, " unless he was constrained by his 
subjects." 

In Chapuys's letters, truth and lies are so intermixed 
that all his personal stories must be received with dis- 
trust. Invariably, however, he believed and reported 
the most scandalous rumours which he could hear. 
Everybody, he said, rejoiced at the execution of the 
pvtaine ; but there were some who spoke variously of 
the King. He had heard, from good authority, that 
in a conversation which passed between Mistress Sey- 
mour and the King before the arrest of the Concu- 
bine, the lady urged him to restore the Princess to the 
court. The King told her she was a fool ; she ought 
to be thinking more of the children which they might 
expect of their own, than of the elevation of the 
other. The lady replied that in soliciting for the 
Princess, she was consulting for the good of the King, 
of herself, of her children should she have any, and 

1 Cromwell, writing to Gardiner to inform him of the marriage, said 
that " the nohles and Council upon their knees had moved him to it." 
If their entreaty had been no more than a farce, Cromwell would hardly 
have mentioned it so naturally in a private letter to a brother Privy 
Councillor. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, vol. xi. p. 16, 



The King's Behaviour. 443 

of all the realm, as, without it, the English nation 
would never be satisfied. Such a conversation is not 
in itself likely to have been carried on before Anne's 
arrest, and certainly not where it could be overheard 
by others ; especially as Chapuys admitted that the 
King said publicly he would not marry anyone unless 
the Parliament invited him. One would like to know 
what the trustworthy authority might have been. Un- 
fortunately for the veracity of his informant, he went 
on with an account of the King's personal behaviour, 
the accuracy of which can be tested. 

" People," he said, " had found it strange that the 
King, after having received such ignominy, should 
have gone about at such a time banqueting with ladies, 
sometimes remaining after midnight, and returning 
by the river, accompanied by music and the singers of 
his chamber. He supped lately," the Ambassador 
continued, "with several ladies at the house of the 
Bishop of Carlisle, and showed extravagant joy." The 
Bishop came the next morning to tell Chapuys of the 
visit, and added a story of the King having said that 
he had written a tragedy on Anne's conduct which he 
offered the Bishop to read. 1 Of John Kite, the Bishop 
of Carlisle, little is known, save that Sir William 
Kingston said he used to play " penny gleek " with 
him. But it happens that a letter exists, written on 
the same day as Chapuys's, which describes Henry's 
conduct at precisely the same period. 

John Husee, the friend and agent of Lord Lisle, 
was in London on some errand from his employer. 
His business required him to speak to the King, and he 
said that he had been unable to obtain admittance, the 
King having remained in strict seclusion from the day 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., May 19, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and 
J)omestic, vol. x. p. 378. 



444 The Divorce of Catherine of Aracjon. 

of Anne's arrest to her execution. "His Grace," 
Husee wrote, " came not abroad this fortnight, except 
it was in the garden or in his boat, when it may be- 
come no man to interrupt him. Now that this matter 
is past I hope to see him." 1 

Chapuys was very clever ; he may be believed, with 
limitations, when writing - on business or describing 
conversations of his own with particular persons ; but 
so malicious was he, and so careless in his matters of 
fact or probability, that he cannot be believed at all 
when reporting scandalous anecdotes which reached 
him from his " trustworthy authorities." 

It is, however, true that, before the fortnight had 
expired, the King had resolved to do what the Council 
recommended — marry Jane Seymour, and marry her 
promptly, to close further solicitation from foreign 
Powers. There is no sign that she had herself sought 
so questionable an elevation. A powerful party in the 
State wished her to accept a position which could have 
few attractions, and she seems to have acquiesced with- 
out difficulty. Francis and Charles were offering their 
respective Princesses ; the readiest way to answer them 
without offence was to place the so much coveted hand 
out of the reach of either. On the 20th of May, the 
morning after Anne was beheaded, Jane Seymour was 
brought secretly by water to the palace at Westminster, 
and was then and there formally betrothed to the King. 
The marriage followed a few days later. On Ascension 
Day, the 25th of May, the King, in rejecting the of- 
fered match from Francis, said that he was not then 
actually married. On the 29th or 30th, Jane was 
formally introduced as Queen. 

Chapuys was disappointed in his expectation of 

1 John Husee to Lord Lisle, May 19. — Calendar, Foreign and Do- 
mestic, vol. x. p. 385. 



Marriage with Jane Seymour. 445 

popular displeasure. Not a murmur was heard to 
break the expression of universal satisfaction. The 
new Queen was a general favourite ; everyone knew that 
she was a friend of the Princess Mary, and everyone 
desired to see Mary replaced in her rights. Fortu- 
nately for the Princess, the attempt at escape had 
never been carried out. She had remained quietly 
watching the overthrow of her enemy, and trusting 
the care of her fortunes to Cromwell, who, she knew, 
had always been her advocate. She had avoided writ- 
ing to him to intercede for her, because, as she said, 
" I perceived that nobody dared speak for me as long 
as that woman lived who is now gone, whom God in 
his mercy forgive ! " * The time had now come for 
her to be received back into favour. Submission of 
some kind it would be necessary for her to make ; and 
the form in which it was to be done was the difficulty. 
The King could not replace in the line of the succession 
a daughter who was openly defying the law. Crom- 
well drew for Mary a sketch of a letter which he 
thought would be sufficient. It was to acknowledge 
that she had offended her father, to beg his blessing 
and his forgiveness, and to promise obedience for the 
future, to congratulate him on his marriage, and to 
ask permission to wait on the new Queen. He showed 
the draft to Chapuys, for the Princess to transcribe 
and send. Chapuys objected that the surrender was 
too absolute. Cromwell said that he might alter it if he 
pleased, and a saving clause was introduced, not too 
conspicuous. She was to promise to submit in all 
things " under God." In this form, apparently, the let- 
ter was despatched, and was said to have given great 
satisfaction both to Henry and the new Queen. Now 

1 The Princess Mary to Cromwell, May 26, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign 
and Domestic. 



446 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

it was thought that Mary would be restored to her 
rank as Princess. She would be excluded from the 
succession only if a son or daughter should be born of 
the new marriage ; but this did not alarm Chapuys, 
for " according to the opinion of many," he said, 
" there was no fear of any issue of either sex." 

On Ascension Day, the Ambassador had been ad- 
mitted to an audience, the first since the unprosperous 
discussion at Greenwich. The subject of the treaty 
with the Emperor had been renewed under more 
promising auspices. The King had been gracious. 
Chapuys had told him that the Emperor desired to 
explain and justify the actions of which the King had 
complained ; but before entering on a topic which 
might renew unpleasant feelings, he said that the Em- 
peror had instructed him to consult the King's wishes ; 
and he undertook to conform to them. The King 
listened with evident satisfaction ; and a long talk fol- 
lowed, in the course of which the Ambassador intro- 
duced the various proposals which the Emperor had 
made for fresh matrimonial connections. The King 
said that Chapuys was a bringer of good news ; his 
own desire was to see a union of all Christian princes ; 
if the Emperor was in earnest, he hoped that he would 
furnish the Ambassador with the necessary powers to 
negotiate, or would send a plenipotentiary for that 
particular purpose. 

The offer of the Infanta of Portugal for the King 
himself was, of course, declined, the choice being 
already made ; but Cromwell said afterwards that Don 
Luis might perhaps be accepted for the Princess, the 
position of the Princess being the chief point on which 
the stability of all other arrangements must depend. 
As to the " General Council," it was not to be supposed 
that the King wanted to set up " a God of his own," 



Proposal for a General Council. 447 

or to separate himself from the rest of Christendom. 
He was as anxious as any one for a Council, but it 
must be a Council called by the Emperor* as chief of 
Christian Europe. It is to be observed that Henry, 
as Plead of the Church of England, took upon him- 
self the entire ordering* of what was or was not to be. 
Even the form of consulting the clergy was not so much 
as thought of. Chapuys could not answer for as much 
indifference on the Emperor's part. The Council, he 
thought, must be left in the Pope's hand at the outset. 
The Coimcil itself, when it assembled, could do as it 
pleased. He suggested, however, that Cromwell should 
put in writing his conception of the manner in which 
a Coimcil could be called by the Emperor, which 
Cromwell promised to do. 

All things were thus appearing to run smooth. 
Four days later, when the marriage with Jane Sey- 
mour had been completed, Chapuys saw Henry again. 
The King asked him if he had heard further from the 
Emperor. Chapuys was able to assent. Charles's 
eager letters had come in by successive posts, and one 
had just arrived in which he had expressed his grief 
and astonishment at the conduct of Anne Boleyn, had 
described how he had spoken to his own Coimcil about 
the woman's horrible ingratitude, and had himself 
offered thanks to God for having: discovered the con- 
spiracy, and saved the King from so great a danger. 
Henry made graceful acknowledgments, replied most 
politely on the offer of the Infanta, for which he said 
he was infinitely obliged to the Emperor, and con- 
ducted the Ambassador into another room to introduce 
him to the Queen. 

Chapuys was all courtesy. At Henry's desire he 
kissed and congratulated Jane. The Emperor, he said, 
would be delighted that the King had found so good 



448 The Divorce of Catherine of Ararjon. 

and virtuous a wife. He assured her that the whole 
nation was united in rejoicing at her marriage. He 
recommended the Princess to her care, and hoped that 
she would have the honourable name of peacemaker. 

The King answered for her that this was her nature. 
She would not for the world that he went to war. 

Chapuys was aware that Henry was not going to 
war on the side of Francis — that danger had passed ; 
but that he would not go to war at all was not pre- 
cisely what Chapuys wished to hear. What Charles 
wanted was Henry's active help against the French. 
The fourth condition of the proposed treaty was an 
alliance offensive and defensive. Henry merely said 
he would mediate, and, if France woidd not agree to 
reasonable terms, he would then declare for the Em- 
peror. 1 

The Emperor, like many other persons, had attrib- 
uted the whole of Henry's conduct to the attractions 
of Anne Boleyn. He had supposed that after his eyes 
had been opened he would abandon all that he had 
done, make his peace with the Pope, and return to his 
old friends with renewed heartiness. He was sur- 
prised and disappointed. Mediation would do no good 
at all, he said. If the King would join him against 
France, the Emperor would undertake to make no 
peace without including him, and would take security 
for the honour and welfare of the realm. But he de- 
clined to quarrel with the Pope to please the King ; 
and if the King would not return to the obedience of 
the Holy See or submit his differences with the Pope 
to the Emperor and the Council, he said that he could 
make no treaty at all with him. He directed Chapuys, 
however, to continue to discuss the matter in a friendly 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., June 6. — Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, 
vol. x. p. 440; Spanish Calendar, vol. v. pp. 137 et seq. 



European, War. 449 

way, to gain time till it could be seen how events would 
turn. 1 

How events did turn is sufficiently well known. 
The war broke out — the French invaded Italy ; the 
Emperor, unable to expel them, turned upon Provence, 
where he failed miserably with the loss of the greater 
part of his army. 

Henry took no part. The state of Europe was con- 
sidered at length before the English Council. Chapuys 
was heard, and the French Ambassador was heard ; 
and the result was a declaration of neutrality — the 
only honourable and prudent course where the choice 
lay between two faithless friends who, if the King 
had committed himself to either, would have made up 
their own quarrels at England's expense. 

1 Charles V. to Chapuys, June 30, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. x. p. 511. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Expectation that Henry would return to the Roman Communion — 
Henry persists in carrying out the Reformation — The Crown and 
the clergy — Meeting of a new Parliament — Fresh repudiation of 
the Pope's authority — Complications of the succession — Attitude 
of the Princess Mary — Her reluctant submission — The King em- 
powered to name his successor by will — Indication of his policy — 
The Pilgrimage of Grace — Cost of the Reformation — The martyrs, 
Catholic and Protestant. 

Whether Henry, on the exposure of the charac- 
ter of the woman for whom, in the world's union, he 
had quarrelled with Rome and broken the union of 
Christendom, would now reverse his course and return 
to the communion of the Apostolic See, was the ques- 
tion on which all minds were exercising themselves. 
The Pope and the European Powers were confident, 
believing the reports which had reached them of the 
discontent in England. Cranmer feared it, as he 
almost confessed in the letter which he wrote to the 
King when he first heard of the arrest of Anne. She 
had been conspicuously Lutheran ; her family and her 
party were Lutheran, and the disgrace might naturally 
extend to the cause which they represented. The 
King was to show that he had not, as he said himself, 
" proceeded on such light grounds." The divorce had 
been the spark which kindled the mine ; but the ex- 
plosive force was in the temper of the English nation. 
The English nation was weary of a tribunal which 
sold its decrees for money, or allowed itself to be used 



The Clergy and the Crown. 451 

as a tool by the Continental Sovereigns. It was 
weary of the iniquities of its own Church Courts, 
which had plundered rich and poor at their arbitrary 
pleasure — of a clergy which, protected by the im- 
munities which Becket had won for them, and re- 
strained by no laws save those which they themselves 
allowed, had made their lives a scandal and their pro- 
fession an offence. The property which had been 
granted them in pious confidence for holy uses was 
squandered in luxurious self-indulgence ; and they had 
replied to the reforms which were forced upon them 
by disloyalty and treason. They had been coerced 
into obedience ; they had been brought under the con- 
trol of the law, punished for their crimes in spite of 
their sacred calling under which they had claimed ex- 
emption, and been driven into the position of ordinary 
citizens. Their prelates were no longed able to seize 
and burn ex officio obnoxious preachers, or imprison or 
ruin under the name of heretics rash persons who 
dared to speak the truth of them. 

In exasperation at the invasion of these time- 
honoured privileges, they denounced as sacrilege the 
statutes which had been required to restrain them. 
They had conspired to provoke the Pope to excom- 
municate their Sovereign, and solicited the Catholic 
Powers to invade their country and put the Reformers 
down with fire and sword. The King, who had been 
the instrument of their beneficent humiliation, did not 
intend either to submit the internal interests of the 
country to the authority of a foreign bishop, or to 
allow the black regiments at home to recover the 
power which they had so long abused. 

Cromwell's commissioners were still busy on the 
visitation of the religious houses. Each day brought 
in fresh reports of their condition. These communi- 



452 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

ties, supposed to be special servants of God, had be- 
come special servants of the Devil. The eagerness 
with which the Pope solicited Henry's return, the 
assurance that he had always been his friend — had 
always maintained that Henry was right in the divorce 
case, when he had a Bull ready in his desk taking his 
crown from him — was in itself sufficient evidence of 
the fitness of such a ruler to be the Supreme Judge 
in Christendom. Just as little could the Emperor be 
trusted, whose affectations of friendship were qualified 
by secret reservations. The King had undertaken a 
great and beneficent work in his own realm and meant 
to go through with it. The Pope might do as he 
pleased. The Continental Princes might quarrel or 
make peace, hold their Councils, settle as they liked 
their own affairs, in their own way ; England was suf- 
ficient for herself. He had called his people under 
arms ; he had fortified the coasts ; he had regenerated 
the navy. The nation, or the nobler part of it, he 
believed to be loyal to himself — to approve what he 
had done and to be ready to stand by him. He was 
not afraid of attack from abroad. If there was a 
rebellious spirit at home, if the clergy were mutinous 
because the bit was in their mouths, if the Peers of 
the old blood were alarmed at the growth of religious 
liberty and were discontented because they could no 
longer deal with it in the old way, the King was con- 
vinced that he was acting for the true interests of the 
country, that Parliament would uphold him, and that 
he coidd control both the ecclesiastics and the nobles. 
The world should see that the reforms which he had 
introduced into England were not the paltry accidents 
of a domestic scandal, but the first steps of a revolution 
deliberately resolved on and sternly carried out which 
was to free the island for ever from the usurped au> 






Call of Parliament. 453 

thority of an Italian Prelate, and from the poisonous 
influences within the realm of a corrupt and demoral- 
ising superstition. 

The call of Parliament after Anne's execution was 
the strongest evidence of confidence in his people 
which Henry had yet given. He had much to ac- 
knowledge and much to ask. He had to confess that, 
although he had been right in demanding a separa- 
tion from his brother's wife, he had fatally mistaken 
the character of the woman whom he had chosen to 
take her place. The succession which he had hoped 
to establish he had made more intricate than before. 
He had now three children, all technically illegitimate. 
The Duke of Richmond was the son of the only mis- 
tress with whom he was ever known to have been 
really connected. The Duke was now eighteen years 
old. He had been educated as a Prince, but had no 
position recognised by the law. Elizabeth's mother 
had acknowledged to having committed herself be- 
fore her marriage with the King, and many persons 
doubted whether Elizabeth was the King's true daugh- 
ter. Mary's claim was justly considered as the best, 
for, though her mother's marriage had been declared 
illegal, she had been born bond fide parent wn. What 
Parliament would do in such extraordinary circum- 
stances could not be foreseen with any certainty, and 
the elections had to be made with precipitancy and 
without time for preparation. The writs were issued 
on the 7th of May. The meeting was to be on the 
8th of June. The Crown could influence or control 
the elections at some particular places. At Canter- 
bury Cromwell named the representatives who were 
to be chosen, 1 as, till the Reform Bill of 1832, they 
continued to be named by the patrons of boroughs. 

1 Calendar, Foreign and Domestic, June G, 1536, vol. x. p. ".89. 



454 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

Yet it would be absurd to argue from single instances 
that the Crown could do what it pleased. Even with 
leisure to take precautions and with the utmost exer- 
cise of its powers, it could only affect the returns, in 
the great majority of the constituencies, through the 
Peers and landowners, and the leading citizens in the 
corporations. With only four weeks to act in, a 
Queen to try and execute, and a King to marry hi 
the interval, no ingenuity and no industry could have 
sufficed to secure a House of Commons whose sub- 
serviency could be counted on, if subserviency was 
what the King required. It is clear only that, so far 
as concerned the general opinion of the country, the 
condemnation of Anne Boleyn had rather strength- 
ened than impaired his popularity. As Queen she 
had been feared and disliked. Her punishment was 
regarded as a creditable act of justice, and the King- 
was compassionated as a sufferer from abominable 
ingratitude. 

Little is known in detail of the proceedings of this 
Parliament. The Acts remain : the debates are lost. 
The principal difficulties with which it had to deal 
concerned Anne's trial and the disposition of the in- 
heritance of the Crown. On the matter of real im- 
portance, on the resolution of King and Legislature 
to go forward with the Reformation, all doubts were 
promptly dispelled. An Act was passed without op- 
position reasserting the extinction of the Pope's au- 
thority, and another taking away the protection of 
sanctuary from felonious priests. The succession was 
a harder problem. Day after day it had been debated 
in the Council. Lord Sussex had proposed that, as 
all the children of the King were illegitimate, the 
male should be preferred to the female and the crown 



Act of Succession. 455 

be settled on the Duke of Richmond. 1 Richmond 
was personally liked. He resembled his father in 
appearance and character, and the King himself was 
supposed to favour this solution. With the outer 
world the favourite was the Princess Mary. Both 
she and her mother were respected for a misfortune 
which was not due to faults of theirs, and the Prin- 
cess was the more endeared by the danger to which 
she was believed to have been exposed through the 
machinations of Anne. The new Queen was her 
strongest advocate, and the King's affection for her 
had not been diminished even when she had tried 
him the most. He could not have been ignorant of 
her correspondence with Chapuys : he probably knew 
that she had wished to escape out of the realm, and 
that the Pope, who was now suing to him, had meant 
to bestow his own crown upon her. But her qualities 
were like his own, tough and unmalleable, and in the 
midst of his anger he had admired her resolution. 
Every one expected that she would be restored to her 
rank after Anne's death. The King had apparently 
been satisfied with her letter to him. Cromwell was 
her friend, and Chapuys, who had qualified her sub- 
mission, was triumphant and confident. He was led 
to expect that an Act would be introduced declaring 
her the next heir — nay, he had thought that such an 
Act had been passed. Unfortunately for him the 
question of her acknowledgment of the Act of Su- 
premacy was necessarily revived. Had she or had 
she not accepted it? The Act had been imposed, 
with the Statute of Treasons attached, as a test of 
loyalty to the Reformation. It was impossible to 
place her nearest to the throne as long as she refused 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., June 6, 1536. — Calendar, Foreign and 
Domestic, vol. x. p. 441. 



456 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

obedience to a law essential to the national indepen- 
dence. To refuse was to confess of a purpose of un- 
doing her father's work, should he die and the crown 
descend to her. She had supposed that " she was out 
of her trouble " while she had saved her conscience 
by the reservation in her submission. Chapuys found 
her again " in extreme perplexity and anger." The 
reservation had been observed. The Duke of Nor- 
folk, Lord Sussex, a Bishop, and other Privy Coun- 
cillors, had come with a message to her, like those 
which had been so often carried ineffectually to her 
mother, to represent the necessity of obedience. 
Chapuys said that she had confounded them with her 
wise answers, and that, when they could not meet 
her arguments, they " told her that, if she was their 
daughter, they would knock her head against the wall 
till it was as soft as a baked apple." In passing- 
through Mary and through Chapuys the words, per- 
haps, received some metaphorical additions. It is 
likely enough, however, that Norfolk, who was sup- 
porting her claims with all his power, was irritated at 
the revival of the old difficulties which he had hoped 
were removed. The Princess " in her extreme neces- 
sity " wrote for advice to the Ambassador. The 
Emperor was no longer in a condition to threaten, 
and to secure Mary's place as next in the succession 
was of too vital importance to the Imperialists to per- 
mit them to encourage her in scruples of conscience. 
Chapuys answered frankly that, if the King persisted, 
she must do what he required. The Emperor had 
distinctly said so. Her life was precious, she must 
hide her real feelings till a time came for the redress 
of the disorders of the realm. Nothing was demanded 
of her expressly against God or the Articles of Faith, 
and God looked to intentions rather than acts. 



Act of Siiccession. 457 

Mary still hesitated. She had the Tudor obstinacy, 
ind she tried her will against her father's. The King- 
was extremely angry. He had believed that she had 
given way and that the troubles which had distracted 
his family were at last over. He had been exception- 
ally well-disposed towards her. He had probably de- 
cided to be governed by the wishes of the people and 
to appoint her by statute presumptive heir, and she 
seemed determined to make it impossible for him. He 
suspected that she was being secretly encouraged. To 
defend her conduct, as Cromwell ventured to do, pro- 
voked him the more, for he felt, truly, that to give 
way was to abandon the field. Lady Hussey was sent 
to the Tower ; Lord Exeter and Sir William Fitz- 
william were suspended from attendance on the Coun- 
cil ; and even Cromwell, for four or five days, counted 
himself a lost man. Jane Seymour interceded in vain. 
To refuse to acknowledge the supremacy was treason, 
and had been made treason for ample reason. Mary, 
as the first subject in the realm, could not be allowed 
to deny it. Henry sent for the Judges, to consider 
what was to be done, and the Court was once more in 
terror. The Judges advised that a strict form of sub- 
mission should be drawn, and that the Princess should 
be required to sign it. If she persisted in her refusal, 
she would then be liable to the law. The difficulty 
was overcome, or evaded, in a manner characteristic 
of the system to which Mary so passionately adhered. 
Chapuys drew a secret protest that, in submitting, 
she was yielding only to force. Thus guarded, he 
assured her that her consent would not be binding, 
that the Pope would not only refrain from blaming 
her, but would highly approve. She was still unsatis- 
fied, till she made him promise to write to the Im- 
perial Ambassador at Rome to procure a secret abso- 



458 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

lution from the Pope for the full satisfaction of her 
conscience. Thus protected, she disdainfully set her 
name to the paper prepared by the Judges, without 
condescending to read it, and the marked contempt, 
in Chapuys's opinion, would serve as an excuse for 
her in the future. 1 

While the crisis lasted the Council were in perma- 
nent session. Timid Peers were alarmed at the King's 
peremptoriness, and said that it might cost him his 
throne. The secret process by which Mary had been 
brought to yield may have been conjectured, and her 
resistance was not forgotten, but she had signed what 
was demanded, and it was enough. In the Court there 
was universal delight. Chapuys congratulated Crom- 
well, and Cromwell led him to believe that the crown 
would be settled as he wished. The King and Queen 
drove down to Richmond to pay the Princess a visit. 
Henry gave her a handsome present of money and 
said that now she might have anything that she 
pleased. The Queen gave her a diamond. She was 
to return to the court and resume her old station. 
One cloud only remained. If it was generally under- 
stood that the heir presumptive in her heart detested 
the measures in which she had formally acquiesced, 
the country could no longer be expected to support a 
policy which would be reversed on the King's death. 
Mary's conduct left little doubt of her real feelings, 
and therefore it was not held to be safe to give her by 
statute the position which her friends desired for her. 
The facility with which the Pope could dispense with 
inconvenient obligations rendered a verbal acquies- 
cence an imperfect safeguard. Parliament, therefore, 
did not, after all, entail the crown upon her, in the 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., July 1, 1530. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
part 2, pp. 184 et seq. 



Act of Succession. 459 

event of the King's present marriage being unfruitful, 
but left her to deserve it and empowered the King to 
name his own successor. 

Chapuys, however, was able to console himself with 
the reflection that the Bastard, as he called Elizabeth, 
was now out of the question. The Duke of Richmond 
was ill — sinking under the same weakness of consti- 
tution which had been so fatal in the Tudor family 
and of which he, in fact, died a few weeks later. The 
prevailing opinion was that the King could never have 
another child. Mary's prospects, therefore, were 
tolerably " secure. I must admit," Chapuys wrote on 
the 8th of July, " that her treatment improves every 
day. She never had so much liberty as now, or was 
served with so much state even by the little Bastard's 
waiting-women. She will want nothing in future but 
the name of Princess of Wales, 1 and that is of no con- 
sequence, for all the rest she will have more abun- 
dantly than before." 

Mary, in fact, now wanted nothing save the Pope's 
pardon for having abjured his authority. Chapuys 
had midertaken that it would be easily granted. The 
Emperor had himself asked for it, yet not only could 
not Cifuentes obtain the absolution, but he did not 
so much as dare to speak to Paul on the subject. The 
absolution for the murder of an Archbishop of Dublin 
had been bestowed cheerfully and instantly on Fitz- 
gerald. Mary was left with perjury on her con- 
science, and no relief could be had. There appeared 

1 Chapuys to Charles V., July 8, 1536. — Spanish Calendar, vol. v. 
part 2, p. 221. In using the words, " Princess of Wales," Chapuys adds 
a curious fact, if fact it be — " Nowhere that I know of," he says, " is 
the title of Princess given to a King's daughter as long as there is hope 
of male descent. It was the Cardinal of York who, for some whim or 
other of his own, broke through the rule and caused Henry's daughter 
by Catherine to be called ' Princess of Wales.' " 



460 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

to be some technical difficulty. " Unless she retracted 
and abjured in the presence of the persons before 
whom she took the oath, it was said that the Pope's 
absolution would be of no use to her." There was, 
perhaps, another objection. Cifuentes imperfectly 
trusted Paul. He feared that if he pressed the re- 
quest the secret would be betrayed and that Mary's 
life would be in danger. 1 

Time, perhaps, and reflection alleviated Mary's re- 
morse and enabled her to dispense with the Papal 
anodyne, while Cromwell further comforted the Am- 
bassador in August by telling him that the King felt 
he was growing old, that he was hopeless of further 
offspring, and was thinking seriously of making Mary 
his heir after all. 2 

Age the King coidd not contend with, but for the 
rest he had carried his policy through. The first act 
of the Reformation was closing, and he was left in 
command of the situation. The curtain was to rise 
again with the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire rebellion, 
to be followed by the treason of the Poles. But there 
is no occasion to tell a story over again which I can 
tell no better than I have done already, nor does it 
belong to the subject of the present volume. The 
Pilgrimage of Grace was the outbreak of the con- 
spiracy encouraged by Chapuys to punish Henry, and 
to stop the progress of the Reformation ; Chapuys's 
successors in the time of Elizabeth followed his ex- 
ample ; and with them all the result was the same — 
the ruin of the cause which with such weapons they 
were trying to maintain, and the deaths on the scaf- 
fold of the victims of visionary hopes and promises 
which were never to be made good. 

1 Cifuentes to Charles V., August 4, 1536. — Spanish Calendar, vol. 
v. part 2, p. 221. 

2 Chapuys to Charles V., August 12, 1536. ' 



Fate of Catholic Conspirators. 461 

All the great persons whom Chapuys names as 
willing to engage in the enterprise — the Peers, the 
Knights, who, with the least help from the Emperor, 
would hurl the King from his throne, Lord Darcy and 
Lord Hussey, the Bishop of Rochester, as later on, the 
Marquis of Exeter, Lord Montague, and his mother — 
sank one after another into bloody graves. They mis- 
took their imaginations for facts, their passions for 
arguments, and the vain talk of an unscrupulous Am- 
bassador for solid ground on which to venture into 
treason. In their dreams they saw the phantom of 
the Emperor coming over with an army to help them. 
Excited as they had been, they coidd not part with 
their hopes. They knew that they were powerful in 
numbers. Their preparations had been made, and 
many thousands of clergy and gentlemen and yeomen 
had been kindled into crusading enthusiasm. The flame 
burst out sporadically and at intervals, without certain 
plan or purpose, at a time when the Emperor could 
not help them, even if he had ever seriously intended 
it, and thus the conflagration, which at first blazed 
through all the northern comities, was extinguished 
before it turned to civil war. The common people 
who had been concerned in it suffered but lightly. But 
the roots had penetrated deep ; the conspiracy was of 
long standing ; the intention of the leaders was to 
carry out the Papal censures, and put down what was 
called heresy. The rising was really formidable, for 
the loyalty of many of the great nobles was not above 
suspicion, and, if not promptly dealt with, it might 
have enveloped the whole island. Those who rise in 
arms against Governments must take the consequences 
of failure, and the leaders who had been the active 
spirits in the sedition were inexorably punished. In 
my History of the time I have understated the num- 



462 The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. 

ber of those who were executed. Care was taken to 
select only those who had been definitely prominent. 
Nearly three hundred were hanged in all — in batches 
of twenty-five or thirty, in each of the great northern 
cities ; and, to emphasize the example and to show 
that the sacerdotal habit would no longer protect trea- 
son, the orders were to select particularly the priests 
and friars who had been engaged. The rising was 
undertaken in the name of religion. The clergy had 
been the most eager of the instigators. Chapuys had 
told the Emperor that of all Henry's subjects the 
clergy were the most disaffected, and the most willing 
to supply money for an invasion. They were there- 
fore legitimately picked out for retribution, and in 
Lincoln, York, Hull, Doncaster, Newcastle, and Car- 
lisle, the didactic spectacle was witnessed of some 
scores of reverend persons swinging for the crows to 
eat in the sacred dress of their order. A severe lesson 
was required to teach a superstitious world that the 
clerical immunities existed no longer and that priests 
who broke the law would suffer like common mortals ; 
but it must be clearly understood that, if these men 
could have had their way, the hundreds who suffered 
would have been thousands, and the victims would 
have been the poor men who were looking for a purer 
faith in the pages of the New Testament. 

When we consider the rivers of blood which were 
shed elsewhere before the Protestant cause coirid estab- 
lish itself, the real wonder is the small cost in human 
life of the mighty revolution successfully accomplished 
by Henry. With him, indeed, Chapuys must share the 
honour. The Catholics, if they had pleased, might 
have pressed their objections and their remonstrances 
in Parliament ; and a nation as disposed for compro- 
mise as the English might have mutilated the inevita- 



The Martyrs of Faith. 463 

ble changes. Chapuys's counsels tempted them into 
more dangerous and less pardonable roads. By en- 
couraging them in secret conspiracies he made them a 
menace to the peace of the realm. He brought Fisher 
to the block. He forced the Government to pass the 
Act of Supremacy as a defence against treason, and 
was thus the cause also of the execution of Sir Thomas 
More and the Charterhouse Monks. 

To Chapuys, perhaps, and to his faithful imitators 
later in the century — De Quadra and Mendoza — the 
country owes the completeness of the success of the 
Reformation. It was a battle fought out gallantly 
between two principles — a crisis in the eternal strug- 
gle between the old and the new. The Catholics may 
boast legitimately of their martyrs. But the Protes- 
tants have a martyrology longer far and no less hon- 
ourable, and those who continue to believe that the 
victory won in England in the sixteenth century was 
a victory of right over wrong, have no need to blush 
for the actions of the brave men who, in the pulpit or 
in the Council Chamber, on the scaffold or at the 
stake, won for mankind the spiritual liberty which is 
now the law of the world. 



INDEX. 



ABBOTS, mitred : division of opin- 
ion on the Annates Bill, 187. 
"Advocation" of a cause, to Rome, 108. 
Alencon, Princesse d' : Wolsey's alleged 

desire of Henry VIII. 's marriage with, 

idsq. 
Amadas, Mrs., 235. 
Annates Bill, 187. 
Appeals, Act of, 58, 209. 
Arches Court, the, reformation of, 1S5. 
Arthur, Prince (Henry VIII. 's brother) : 

question of the consummation of his 

marriage with Catherine, 171. 
Ateca, Father (Bishop of Llaudaff), 

Catherine's confessor, 379. 
Audeley, Chancellor, -105. 

BARENTYNE, Sir William, 60. 
Barton, Elizabeth. See Nun of 
Kent. 

Bath, Bishop of (English ambassador at 
Paris), on the initial stages of the di- 
vorce of Henry VIII., 25. 

Becket, Archbishop (Canterbury), the 
hero of the English clergy, 158. 

Bellay du (French ambassador to Eng- 
land) : on Wolsey's position towards 
the divorce, 94; on the Blackfriars 
Legatine court, 107 ; account of Wol- 
sey after his fall, 121 ; mission from 
Francis to Anne Boleyn, 250 ; special 
mission to Clement, 250 ; the Pope's 
reply, 257 tgq. ; mission to the Pope 
in regard to Milan, 302 ; description 
of the debate in Consistory on the 
Bull of Deposition, 309. 

Benet, Dr., English agent at Rome, 101. 

Bishop's courts, the, reformation of, 
185. 

Bishops, English : their qualified accep- 
tance of the Royal Supremacy, 101 ; 
their official opinions on the divorce 
question, 100 ; unanimous against the 
Annates Bill, 187. 

Bilney, Thomas, burnt as a heretic, by 
a bishop's order, 255. 

Blackfriars, the trial of the divorce 
cause before the Legatine court at, 
49 ; the Papal supremacy on its trial 
there, 100. 

Boleyn, Sir Thomas (Anne Boleyn's fa- 
ther : afterwards Earl of Wiltshire ) : 



opposed to his daughter's advance- 
'meut, 48. See also Wiltshire, Earl 
of. 

Boleyn, Lady, 47 ; the charge of her be- 
ing unduly intimate with Henry VIII., 
55, 57. 

Boleyn, Anne : account of her family 
and her early life, 47 ; alleged amour 
with Henry Percy, ib. ; hatred of 
Wolsey, 48 ; her personal appearance, 
ib. ; attempt to influence Henry in 
appointing an Abbess, 71 ; annoyance 
at Wolsey's getting a pension after his 
fall, 132 ; pleasure at the signs of 
Henry's breach with the Papacy, 152 ; 
said (by Chapuys) to be favouring the 
Lutherans, 103; unpopularity arising 
from her insolence and her intrigues, 
107 ; objects to the Princess Mary be- 
ing near her father, 174 ; created Mar- 
chioness of Pembroke, 193 ; compli- 
ments paid her by the French king, 
194 ; present at the interview between 
Henry and Francis, 195 ; continued 
unpopularity, 201 ; agrees to a private 
marriage, 203 ; a staunch Lutheran, 
207 ; announcement of her being en- 
ceinte, 211 ; her coronation, 230 ; 
gives birth to a daughter, 238 ; Bill 
establishing the succession in her off- 
spring by Henrv, 202 ; attempts to 
force Princess Mary to acknowledge 
her as Queen, 20(5 ; alleged threats 
against Mary, 202, 206, 209, 279; sus- 
pected evil intentions against Cather- 
ine, 277 ; meets a rebuff in the ac- 
quittal of Lord Dacre, 284 ; violence 
and insolence to the King through 
jealousy, 290; and to his principal 
Ministers, 297 ; urges Henry to bring 
Catherine and Mirvto trial under the 
Succession Act, 312.; joy at Cather- 
ine's death, 382; friendly message to 
Mary, 383 ; Anne's continued unpop- 
ularity, 385 ; letter to Mrs. Shelton 
about Mary, 387 ; a second miscar- 
riage, 388 ; a long catalogue of mis- 
deeds charged against her, 40'2 ; 
Easter (1536) at Greenwich, 404 ; in- 
quiry into infidelities charged against 
her, 415 ; charged before the Council 
with adultery, 417 ; sent to the Tower, 



466 



Index. 



ib. ; alleged to have planned the poi- 
soning of the Princess Mary and the 
Duke of Richmond, 418 ; denial of the 
charge of adultery, 41'J ; charged with 
having been herself the solicitor to 
adultery, 420 ; her trial : the indict- 
ment, 426 ; a reason suggested for her 
infidelities, 42G n. ; her trial, 480 sqq. ; 
her confession to Cramer, invalidating 
her marriage with Henry, 431 ; her 
marriage declared null, 431 ; her dy- 
ing speech, 435 ; execution, ib. 

Boleyn, Mary : Henry VIII. 's alleged 
intimacy with, 55 sqq. ; Chapuys's 
reference to it, 130. 

Bourbon, Cardinal, 46. 

Bourbon, Duke of : his treatment of 
Italy after the battle of Pavia, 27 ; 
sack of Rome by (1527), 35. 

Brereton, Sir William (paramour of 
Anne Boleyn), 410, 419 ; execution, 
420. 

Brewer, Mr. : his translation and inter- 
pretation of Wolsey's suggested Papal 
dispensation for Henry VIII. 's second 
marriage, 54 sq, ; his views on the 
alleged intrigue between Henry and 
Mary Boleyn, 58. 

Bribery of miuisters, a common custom, 
45. 

Brief of Execution : its issue still de- 
layed by Paul III., 318 ; differences 
between it and the Bull of Deposition, 
353 n. 

Brown, Dr. (Augustinian friar) : de- 
nounces the authority of the Pope in 
England, 298. 

Bryan, Sir Francis : his opinion of Cle- 
ment VII. 's intentions towards Henry 
VIII., 93 ; suspected of intriguing 
with Anne, 421. 

Bulls for English bishoprics, enormous 
cost of, 89. 

Burgo, Andrea de, 103, 1G8. 

Burgo, Baron de : appointed to succeed 
Casalis as Nuncio in England, 144 ; 
Chapuys's account of his first inter- 
view with Henry, 145 ; protest 
against the revival of the statute of 
Praemunire, 148 ; Henry's reply, 149 ; 
report of an interview with Henry at 
Hampton Court, and witli Norfolk, 
150 ; reply to Norfolk's caution 
against introducing Papal briefs, 150 ; 
his attempted appeal to Convocation, 
100 ; presents Clement's brief to 
Henry, 102 ; account of Henry's re- 
ception of the threat of excommuni- 
cation, 109 ; secret communications 
with Henry, 205 ; accompanies the 
King in state to the opening of Parlia- 
ment, 206. 

Butts, Dr. (Henry's physician) : Cha- 
puys's account of his treachery, 323. 

CALAIS, Conference at, 339, 347. 
Cambrai : suggested as neutral 
ground for the trial of the divorce 
cause, 124, 129, 109, 170, 200. 



Cambrai, Peace of, 66, 109, 112, 114, 
134, 223. 

Campeggio, Bishop (Salisbury), 64, 92; 
chosen by the Pope as special Legate 
to England, 67 sq., 74; reception in 
England, 76 ; his reports thence, 78 ; 
his consultation with Wolsey, 79 ; sug- 
gestion to marry the Princess Mary to 
the Duke of Richmond, ib. ; dilatori- 
ness, 84 ; account of Lutheran propo- 
sals to Henry, 91 ; his advice to Cath- 
erine at Blackf riars, 100 ; effect upon 
him of Bishop Fisher's denunciation 
of the divorce, 107 ; indignity offered 
to him on his leaving England, 122 ; 
Henry's reply to his complaint, ib. ; 
revenues of his see sequestrated, 238. 

Canonists, Henry VIII. 's consultation 
of, and the results, 136. 

Capello, Carlo (Venetian ambassador to 
London) : his account of Anne Bo- 
leyn's unpopularity, 201. 

Carevv, Sir Nicholas, 415. 

Carey, Eleanor: Henry VIII. 's refusal 
to appoint her Abbess of Wilton, 71. 

Casalis, Sir Gregory, English agent at 
Rome, 37 ; on a special mission to the 
Pope at Orvieto, 53 ; his report, 63 ; 
on the Pope's position, 68 ; account of 
his interview with Clement to com- 
plain of dilatoriness, 84 ; after the 
Pope's recovery from illness, 89 ; re- 
sume of the Pope's position towards 
the Emperor, 96 ; protests to the Pope 
against Fisher being made Cardinal, 
338. 

Casalis, John (Papal Nuncio in Eng- 
laud ) : his statement that the Pope 
desired to reconcile the King and the 
Emperor, 127 ; the Nuncio " heart and 
soul " with the King, 135. 

Catherine of Aragon : death of her male 
children by Henry, 21 ; irregularity of 
her marriage, 23 ; her character, 24 ; 
description of her by Falieri, 32 ; first 
discovery of the proposal for a di- 
vorce, 34 ; a scene with her husband, 
38 ; endeavours to obtain the revoca- 
tion of Wolsey's Legatine powers, 39 ; 
no suspicion for some time of Anne 
Boleyn, 48 ; believed that Wolsey was 
the instigator of the divorce, 49 ; 
her ignorance of any intrigue between 
Henry and either Lady Boleyn or her 
daughter Mary, 58 ; Catherine refuses 
to acquiesce in a private arrangement 
of the divorce, 62 ; stands resolutely 
upon her rights, 64 ; objects to the 
case being tried in England, 75 ; the 
arguments of the Legates to her, 77 ; 
the Queen remains still firm, 78 ; her 
popularity, 79, 81 ; the Brief amend- 
ing defects in Julius' dispensation, 83, 
86 ; Catherine refuses to embrace a 
conventual life, 87 ; protest against 
the trial at Blackfriars, 101 ; appeal 
to Henry there, ib. ; Catherine pro- 
nounced contumacious, 102 ; her joy 
at the advocation of the cause i* 



Index. 



467 



Rome, 108 ; objection to the summon- 
ing of Parliament, 110 ; first interview 
with Chapuys, 113 sq. ; demands from 
Rome instant sentence in her cause, 
125 ; dislike of Wolsey up to his death, 
132 ; fresh efforts to persuade her to 
take the veil, 133; the suggestion of 
a neutral place for the trial, 143 ; 
alarm at the enforcement of Prteinu- 
nire, 149 ; a party formed in her favour 
in the House of Commons, 151 ; letter 
of Catherine to Clement, 151 ; sends a 
special representative to Rome, 159 ; 
reception of the news that Henry had 
declared himself " Pope " in England, 
162 ; distrust of Clement's intentions, 
1G3 ; renewed appeal to the Emperor, 
105 ; causes of her popularity, 1G7 ; 
her answer to a delegation of Peers 
and Bishops urging a neutral place of 
trial, 170 ; sneer at the " Supremum 
Caput," 171 ; question of the consum- 
mation of her marriage with Prince 
Arthur, 171 ; Catherine separated from 
her daughter, and sent to Moor Park, 
174 ; English nobles make another 
effort to move Catherine, 170 ; her 
reply, 177 ; annoyed at the Pope's de- 
lays, 179 ; her opinion on the proba- 
ble result of the meeting of Henry and 
Francis, 193 ; complaints to Charles, 
197 ; the proposal that Cranmer should 
try the cause in the Archbishop's 
court, 207 ; Catherine pressed by Eng- 
lish peers to withdaw her appeal, 
after the passing of the Act of Ap- 
peals, 214 ; her reply, 210 ; resume of 
her position in regard to Henry, 217 
sq. ; summoned, refuses to appear be- 
fore Cranmer's court at Dunstable, 
220 ; her rejection of the demand that 
she be styled and endowed as " Prin- 
cess Dowager," 234; allowed to have 
the Princess Mary with her, 234 ; said 
to have desired a marriage between 
the Princess and Reginald Pole, 241, 
295 ; absolute refusal of the renewed 
Cambrai proposition, 240 ; sent to 
Kimbolton, and separated again from 
her daughter, 252 ; fear of foul play, 
254 ; insistence that Chapuys should 
appeal to Parliament for her, 202 ; 
refusal to take the Succession oath, 
271 ; two accounts of her interview 
with Tunstal and Lee on the subject, 
275 sq. ; suspected evil intentions of 
Anne against her, 277 ; disquiet at 
the Emperor's inaction, 280; obliged 
to refuse to receive Chapuys at Kim- 
bolton, 281 ; her household reduced 
by Anne, 290 ; endeavours to quicken 
the Emperor's resolution, 302; anxi- 
ety caused by her daughter's second 
illness, 304 ; the Emperor's refusal to 
interfere the deatli-knell of her hopes, 
309; another appeal to Charles, 319 ; 
appeal to the Pope to " apply a rem- 
edy," 350 ; a similar appenl to Charles, 
357; what the "remedy" was, 302; 



Catherine's expectation of "martyr- 
dom," 300; seized with fatal illness, 
372 ; her last letters, 373 ; interviews 
with Chapuys, 377 ; hei death, 379 ; 
suspicion that she was poisoned, 379 
sqq. ; her burial as " widow of Prince 
Arthur," 389. 

Catholic party in England : incipient 
treason develops into definite conspir- 
acy, 240 ; notorious intention to take 
arms in behalf of Catherine and Mary, 
271 ; all their leaders sank into bloody 
graves, 4( 1. 

Cellini, tienvenuto : anecdote of Clem- 
ent VII , 75. 

Chabot, Admiral Philip de, 304. 

Chapuys, Eustace (Imperial ambassador 
to England): his character, 112; his 
reception in England, ib. ; interview 
with Henry, 113 ; and with Catherine, 
114 ; report on the feeling of the peo- 
ple, ib. ; report of Henry's refusal to 
aid Charles with money against the 
Turks, 120 ; and of Henry's attack 
on the Pope and Cardinals, ib. ; on 
Henry's firm determination to marry 
again, 127 ; on English popular hatred 
of the priests, 128 ; suggestion of ref- 
erence to the Sorbonne, 129 ; on Nor- 
folk's dread of Wolsey's return to 
office, 132 ; statement that the Com- 
mons were sounded on the divorce, 
133 ; report of Norfolk's opinion of 
probable results of refusing the di- 
vorce, 130 sq. ; Chapuys's mistaken 
estimate of English feeling, 137 ; on 
Wolsey's communications with Cath- 
erine, 138; and his desire to "call 
in the secular arm," 139 ; secrets ob- 
tained from Wolsey's physician, 140 ; • 
his account of De Burgo's (Nuncio) 
first interview with Henry (1530), 145 ; 
advice to the Nuncio, 140 ; on Anne 
Boleyn's jubilance, 152 ; dislike of his 
position in England, 153 ; reply to 
Norfolk's statement of the superiority 
in England of the King's to the Pope's 
authority, 155 ; astounded by the en- 
forcement of Praemunire against the 
English clergy, 100 ; blames Clement's 
timidity and dissimulation, 102 ; his 
account of Henry's treatment of the 
Pope's attempts at friendly negotia- 
tions, 178 ; report of Henry's denun- 
ciation of Papal claims in England, 
209 ; desires the Emperor to make 
war on England, 213 ; interview witli 
Henry after the passing of the Act 
of Appeals, 214 ; report on Cranmer's 
judgment, 221 ; bold action, and con- 
sequent discussion with the Council, 
220 ; proposes a special Spanish em- 
bassy to London, 233 ; his high opinion 
of Thomas Cromwell, 230 ; attempt to 
combine Scotland and England through 
a marriage between James and the 
Princess Mary, 201 ; interview with 
Henry as to Catherine's appeal to Par- 
liament, 203 , his intrigues with Scot- 



468 



Index. 



land and with Ireland against the 
peace of England, 268 sq., 275 ; speecli 
to the English Council against the 
Succession oath, 272 sq. ; presses his 
views on Cromwell, 275 ; account of 
Tunstal's and Lae's interview with 
Catherine on the Succession oath, 270 ; 
expresses fears for the safety of Cath- 
erine's life, 277 ; his pilgrimage to our 
Lady of Walsingham (taking Kimbol- 
ton on the way), 281 sq. ; delight at 
the Irish rebellion, 285 ; renewed fears 
for the safety of Catherine and Mary, 
286 ; negotiations for insurrection with 
Lords Hussey and Darcy, 288 sq. ; 
reversal of his revolutionary tactics, 
309 ; fresh negotiations with Cromwell, 
309 sqq. ; belief that Cromwell desired 
to have the Princess Mary made away 
with, 314 ; presses on Cromwell the 
appeal to a General Council, 321 ; let- 
ter to Charles emphasizing Catherine's 
appeals for the " remedy," 357 ; belief 
that time and circumstances were pro- 
pitious, 358 ; reception of Cromwell's 
protest against the Emperor's sup- 
posed intended attack on Henry, 359 ; 
interviews with the Marchioness of 
Exeter, 365 ; interview with Henry 
before visiting Catherine in her mor- 
tal illness, 374 ; visit to Catherine, 
377 ; suspicions as to her having been 
poisoned, 379 sqq. ; advice to Mary in 
regard to Anne Boleyn, 383 ; another 
plan for Mary's escape, 391 ; resumes 
negotiations with Cromwell for a trea- 
ty between Charles and Henry, 394; 
expectations of Henry's separation 
from Anne, 400 ; continued negotia- 
tions for the treaty, 403 ; account of 
the Eastar (153G) at Greenwich, 404 ; 
Henry insists on a letter from Charles, 
406, 408 ; Chapuys's report to Charles, 
409 ; report to the Emperor of Anne 
Boleyn's downfall, 418; false account 
of Rochford's dying speech, 428 ; his 
explanation of Anne's mysterious con- 
fession to Cranmer, 432 ; reports about 
Jane Seymour, 442 ; the negotiations 
for a treaty again taken up, 446 ; in- 
troduced to Henry's new Queen, 448 ; 
advises Mary to take the Succession 
oath with a secret protest, 457 ; on the 
title " Princess of Wales," 459 n. ; dif- 
ficulty with Rome about absolution for 
Mary's " protest," 460 ; the success of 
the Reformation indirectly owing to 
Chapuys, 463. 
Ch.vrles V. (Emperor) : his position in 
regard to Europe in 1526, 26 ; his re- 
lations to the Church, 43 ; letter to 
Henry VIII. on his desired divorce, 
44 ; letter to Wolsey, 45 ; persistent 
efforts to bribe Wolsey, 50 ; allows 
the Pope to escape from captivity, 52 ; 
suggests a private arrangement be- 
tween Henry and Catherine, C4 ; dec- 
laration of war by France and Eng- 
land against Charles, 65 ; his reply, 



ib. ; instructions to Mendoza on the 
Legatine Commission, 74 ; letter to 
Catherine, 75 ; suggestion that she 
should take the veil, 77 ; becomes the 
champion of the Roman hierarchy, 
97 ; seeks Henry's aid against the 
Turks, 126 ; determination to stand by 
Catherine, 133 ; fear of exciting the 
German Lutherans, ib. ; his corona- 
tion at Bologna, 134 ; reply to the 
English deputies, ib. ; personal inter- 
est in the question of papal dispensa- 
tions — his affinity to his wife, 141; 
unconscious of the changes passing 
over the mind of the English people, 
154 ; perplexed by Henry's enforce- 
ment of Praemunire, 164 ; letter to 
Sir T. More, 167 ; insistence that only 
the Pope should be the judge in 
Henry's case, 171 ; slight modification 
in his demand, 173 ; efforts to effect 
reunion of the Lutherans with the 
Church, 175 ; his position towards 
England after Cranmer's judgment, 
222 sqq. ; his nearness to the succes- 
sion to the English Crown, 254 ; dread 
of an Anglo-French alliance, 278 ; 
suggests a joint embassy to England 
from the Pope and himself, ib. ; 
causes of his hesitation to accede to 
the wishes of the reactionists in Eng- 
land, 299, 302 ; ultimate refusal, 306, 
308 ; proposed treaty between Charles 
and Henry, 307 ; letter to Henry re- 
lating to the proposed treaty, 335 ; his 
successful campaign in Africa, 347 ; 
memorandum of the Spanish Council 
of State, 348 ; apparent change of 
feeling towards Henry, 300 ; modifica- 
tions of policy after the death of Duke 
Sforza (Milan), 364 ; Charles's treat- 
ment of Chapuys's alarms about 
Henry's intentions towards Catherine 
and Mary, 366; reception of the news 
of Catherine's death, 392 ; resump- 
tion of negotiations for the aban- 
doned treaty, 394 ; eagerness for recon- 
ciliation with Henry, 396 ; his pro- 
posal, 397 ; anticipated remarriage of 
Henry, 398 ; reply to Cromwell's sug- 
gestions on the treaty, 403 ; proposes 
the Infanta of Portugal as a wife for 
Henry, and the Infant (Don Louis) 
as a husband for Princess Mary, 
438 ; an alternative proposal, ib. ; 
disappointed with Henry's conduct 
after his new marriage, 448 ; signally 
defeated by the French in Provence, 
449. 

Charterhouse monks : their retractation 
of their Supremacy oath, 327 ; execu- 
ted for treason , 328. 

Church reform in the Parliament of 
1529, U5sqq., 121 sq. 

Cifuentes, Count de (Imperial ambassa- 
dor to Rome), 210, 224, 231, 256 sqq., 
270, 278, 346 sq., 353, 460. 

Clareucieulx (English herald), 65. 

Clarendon, Constitutions of, 184 sq. 



Index. 



469 



Clement VII., Pope: his political posi- 
tion when the divorce was first 
mooted, '25 ; Charles V.'s inroads on 
Italy, 27 ; the Pope's appeal lor help 
to Henry VIII., )6. ; financial rUfficul- 
ties and the method of relieving them, 
30 ; a witness of the sack of Rome 
(1527), 35 ; his captivity, 38, 44 ; Dr. 
Knight's mission to, from Henry 
VIII., 51; the Pope's escape to Or- 
vieto, 52 ; his desire to please Henry, 
62 ; his suggestion of a compromise, 
03 ; concessions to Henry, 07 ; con- 
sent that the cause should be heard in 
England, 08; the secret " decretal," 
09 ; alleged contingent assent to the 
proposal to marry Princess Mary to 
Duke of Richmond, 80 ; perplexities 
In regard to the secret " decretal," 84 ; 
fresh pressure from the Emperor, 80 ; 
the brief of Julius II., 87 ; serious ill- 
ness of Clement, 88 ; expresses deter- 
mination not to grant the divorce, 90 ; 
resume of his halting conduct in the 
cause, 99 ; between the hammer and 
the anvil, 105 ; veers towards Henry's 
side, 125 ; desirous to reconcile Henry 
and the Emperor, 127 ; his prohibi- 
tory brief against Henry's second 
marriage, 134 ; the hand of the Em- 
peror therein, ib. ; his desire that 
Henry should solve the difficulty, by 
marriage, 142 ; his reply to the Eng- 
lish mission after the failure at Black- 
friars, 144 ; issues a second brief for- 
bidding Henry's second marriage, 
153 ; continued desire of a compro- 
mise, 160 ; treatment of the appeal to 
a General Council, 106 ; reasons for 
his delay in the divorce case, 168 sq. ; 
brought by Micer Mai to consent to 
communion in both kinds and to the 
marriage of priests, 175 ; attempts 
friendly negotiations with Henry, 178 ; 
Clement's distrust as to the state- 
ments about English popular senti- 
ment, ISO ; he sends Henry another 
expostulating brief, 181, 189 ; Ortiz's 
attempt to extract a sentence of ex- 
communication, 189 ; Clement's pri- 
vately expressed wish that Henry 
would marry without waiting for sen- 
tence, 192 ; another brief prepared 
against Henry, 190 ; continued inde- 
cision, 197 ; conditional excommuni- 
cation of Henry, 198 ; reception of 
the news of Henry's marriage, 210 ; 
preparation for the interview with 
Francis at Nice, 231 ; Clement signs 
the brief Super A//ei)/ii/i.<:, 233 ; inter- 
view with Francis at Marseilles, 243 ; 
treatment of the French suggestion 
that Henry's case should be heard at 
Cambrai, 244 ; subject to a cross-fire 
of influences, 250 sqq. ; the sentence 
delivered : the marriage of Henry 
and Catherine declared valid, 259 ; 
threat to absolve English subjects 
from their allegiance, 205 ; the Brief 



of Execution (calling in the secular 
arm) held back, 278 ; Clement's death, 
290. 

Clergy Discipline Acts, 125. 

Clergy (English) : their state, and the 
popular feeling towards them, 115 ; 
their sentiments on the contest be- 
tween Henry and the Pope, 157 ; 
unanimous censure Cf the King, 158 ; 
the clergy under Prfemunlre, ib. ; fe- 
lonious clerks punished like secular 
criminals, 1S5 ; traitor priests exe- 
cuted in their clerical habits, 189, 462 j 
indignation of the clergy at the stat- 
utes passed in restraint of their privi- 
leges, 451. 

Commission to investigate charges 
against Anne Boleyn, the, 420 ; the 
evidence before them, 421. 

Commons, Petition of the (1529), 115. 

Comunidades, the revolt of the, 43, 

Conspiracy connected with the Nun of 
Blent, 195, 247, 205. 

Convocation : De Burgo's futile appeal 
to, 160 ; acceptance of Royal Supre- 
macy, 186 ; alleged address against 
annates, 187 ». 

Covos, Secretary, 269. 

Craumer, Thomas (afterwards Arch- 
bishop) : one of the English deputies 
at the coronation of Charles V., 134; 
his marriage as a priest, 202 ; made 
Archbishop of Canterbury, 203 ; the 
proposal that he should try the di- 
vorce cause, 207 ; gives judgment for 
the divorce, 220 ; his qualified oath to 
the Pope, 227 ; his high regard foi' 
Anne, 421 ; his alarm for the political 
results of Anne's guilt, 450. 

Cromwell, Thomas : his relations with 
Chapuys, 229, 235, 240 ; sketch of his 
career, 230 ; eager for the reform of 
the clergy, 237 ; alleged desire of the 
deaths of Catherine and Mary, 280 ; 
his discovery of the Emperor's inten- 
tions in regard to Princess Mary, 302 ; 
on the illness of the Princess, 303 ; his 
political principles, 308; in negotia- 
tion again with Chapuys, 309, 321, 330, 
333 ; professed anxiety for Catherine's 
and Mary's safety, 311 ; Anne Bo- 
leyn's enmity to him, 334 ; statement 
of English objection to a Papal Gen- 
eral Council, 339 ; interferes with the 
election of the Lord Mayor, 359 ; 
treatment of Chapuys's advances for 
resuming negotiations of the aban- 
doned treaty, 394 ; contingent accept- 
ance of the Emperor's proposals, 395 ; 
sounded by Chapuys as to Henry's 
possible separation from Anne, 400 1;. 
negotiations continued, 403 ; his 
knowledge of Anne's infidelities, 413 ; 
informs the King, 415 ; report of the 
proceedings against Anne, 424 ; the 
commission of investigation of monas- 
tic establishments, 452 ; influence 
over some parliamentary elections, 
454 ; ja strong friend of Princess Mary, 



470 



Ind< 



ex. 



455 ; her refusal of the Succession 
oath brings on Cromwell the King's 
displeasure, 457 ; expresses his belief 
that Mary will be declared his heir by 
the King, 460. 

DACRE of Naworth, Lord : tried for 
treason, and acquitted, 284. 

Darcy of Templehurst, Lord : his 
charges against Wolsey, 117 sqq. ; 
opinions on the Royal Supremacy, 
186 ; scheme proposed by him to 
Chapuys for an insurrection against 
Henry, 289 ; intimates to Chapuys 
that the time of action has arrived, 
298 ; eager for insurrection, 332, 340 ; 
comes to a violent end, 461. 

Darcy, Sir Arthur (Lord Darcy's son), 
312. 

Darius, Sylvester, English agent at Val- 
ladolid, 82. 

Davalos, Rodrigo (Spanish lawyer) : his 
special method of expediting the di- 
vorce suit at Rome, 232. 

Deceased husband's brother marriage 
with, 24, 52. 

Deposition, the Bull of : not identical 
with the Brief of Execution, 353 n. 

Desmond, Earl of : offers his services to 
the Emperor against Henry, 269. 

Dispensing power, the Papal claim of, 
in matrimonial matters, 24, 33 ; vari- 
ous views of canon lawyers, 125 ; how 
it affected various Royal families, 
141 ; a Cardinal's opinion of the al- 
leged power, 160. 

Dublin, Archbishop of, slaughtered by 
Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, 285. 

Dunstable, Cranmer's court at, 220. 

Durham, Wolsey bishop of, 89. 

Dyngley, Sir Thomas, 59. 

ECCLESIASTICAL Courts: their 
tyranny over the laity, 115. 

Edward IV. : his children by Elizabeth 
Grey declared by a Church court to 
be illegitimate, 22. 

Elections, parliamentary, limited extent 
of Crown influence over, 453 sq. 

Elizabeth, Princess ; proposal for her 
marriage with the Duke of Angou- 
leme, 331. 

Emmanuel, King (Portugal) : married 
successively to two sisters and their 
niece, 141. 

English people : their sentiments on the 
contest between Henry and the Pope, 
157, 167 ; wearied of the tyranny of 
Rome, and of the iniquities of Church 
courts and the clergy, 451. 

Esher, Wolsey 's residence at, 132. 

Essex, Sir William, 60. 

Europe, general interest of, in the Eng- 
lish Reformation movement, 13. 

Exeter, Marchioness of, 365 sq., 400. 

Exeter, Marquis of (grandson of Edward 
IV. : a possible claimant to succeed 
Henry VIII.), 23, 214, 457, 461. 



FALIERI, Ludovico (Venetian ambas- 
sador to England) : his descriptions 
ot Queen Catherine and Henry VIH., 
32 ; on female succession to the Eng- 
lish crown, 123. 

Ferdinand (King of Hungary, and King 
of the Romans : Charles V.'s brother), 
133, 342. 

Fisher, Bishop (Rochester) : his first 
views about the divorce, 42 ; his em- 
phatic denunciation of it, 106 ; objec- 
tion to the Clergy Discipline Acts, 
125 ; staunch in favour of Catherine, 
151 ; his opposition to the Royal Su- 
premacy overcome by threats, 163 ; 
determination to defend Catherine in 
Parliament, 184 ; committed to the 
custody of Bishop Gardiner, 212 ; re- 
leased, 231 ; becomes leader of the 
Catholic conspiracy, 241 ; sent to the 
Tower, 249 ; again sent to the Tower 
for refusing to take the Succession 
oath, 268 ; created Cardinal, 338 ; 
committed for trial, 339 ; incrimina- 
ting letters found on him, 341 ; trial 
and execution. 343. 

Fitzgerald, Lord Thomas : in negotia- 
tion with Chapuys, 269 ; in open re- 
bellion against Henry, 285 ; want of 
means, 297 ; defeat, 301 ; receives the 
Pope's absolution for the murder of 
the Archbishop of Dublin, 332 ; a pri- 
soner in the Tower, 355 ; executed, 
361. 

Fitzwilliam, Sir William, 170, 417, 419, 
457. 

Flemish artisans in London, 83. 

Floriano, Messer : his speech on Cam- 
peggio's arrival in London, 76. 

Foxe, Dr. (afterwards Bishop) : his mis- 
sion from Henry to Clement, 66 ; his 
reply to Chapuys's defence of his ac- 
tion for Catherine, 227. 

Francis I. (France), defeat and capture 
of, at Pavia, 25 ; his belief that Charles 
intended to transfer the Apostolic See 
to Spain, 46 ; doubts Wolsey's hon- 
esty in regard to Henry VIII., 95 ; 
negotiations with the Smalcaldic 
League against Charles V., 135; pro- 
mise to arrange with the Pope if 
Henry cut the knot and married, 144 ; 
desires the Pope to delay sentence, 
165 ; his compliments and presents to 
Anne Boleyn, 194: meeting with 
Henry, 195 ; encourages Henry to 
marry and break with the Pope, ib. ; 
fails to keep Lis apparent promise to 
Henry, 231 ; abandons Henry, 243 ; 
letter to Anne Boleyn, 250 ; last ef- 
forts at Rome, 256 sq. ; influence on 
him of the remembrance of Pavia, 
278 ; desire to set up a Patriarchate 
of France, 279 ; promotes the election 
of Farnese (Paul III.), 291 ; anxious 
desire to take Milan, 331, 334 ; dubi- 
ous position on the question of the 
Papal deposition of Henry, 349 ; fresh 
aspirations towards Milan, 362 ; po- 



Index. 



471 



licy towards the Bull of Deposition, 
3G4 ; successful invasion of Italy, 449 ; 
defeats Charles in Provence, ib. 

GARDINER, Stephen, 66, 92, 131, 
212, 424. 

General Council : suggested appeal to, 
for the settlement of difficulties, 166, 
312, 320, 339 ; demanded of the Pope 
by France and England, 195. 

Ghinucci, Bishop (Worcester), 64 ; rev- 
enues of his see sequestrated, 238. 

Granvelle (Spanish Minister), 353, 409, 
419, 438. 

Grey, Lord Leonard, 360. 

Greys, the family of, possible claimants 
to succeed Henry VIII., 23. 

Gueldres, Duke of, 405. 

HANNAERT, Viscount (Charles's 
ambassador at Paris) : promotes 
a treaty between Charles and Henry, 
307 ; his report on Anne's infidelity, 
419. 

Haughton, Prior (Charterhouse), exe- 
cuted for treason, 328. 

Henry VIII. : effect of religious preju- 
dice in estimating his character : on 
Catholics, 4 ; High Churchmen, 5 ; 
Protestants, ib. ; his ministers and 
prelates must share in whatever was 
questionable in his acts, 8 ; his per- 
sonal popularity, 9 ; permanent char- 
acter of his legislation, 10 ; its bene- 
fits extended beyond England, 11 ; all 
his laws were submitted to his Parlia- 
ment, 13 ; calumnies and libels against 
Henry in his lifetime, 14 ; recent dis- 
covery of unpublished materials for 
his history, 15 ; nature and especial 
value of these, 16 sq. 

Henry VIII. : prospects (in 1526) of a 
disputed succession through the lack 
of an heir, 21 ; primary reason for his 
ceasing to cohabit with Catherine, ib. ; 
irregularity of his marriage, 23 ; first 
mention of the divorce, 25 ; receives 
an appeal for help from Clement VII., 
27 ; sends the Pope money, 28 ; the 
first public expression of a doubt as 
to Princess Mary's legitimacy, 31 ; 
Falieri's description of Henry, 32 ; 
the King before the Legatine court', 
34 ; unpopularity of the divorce, 39 ; 
receives a letter from Charles urging 
him not to make the divorce question 
public, 44 ; Henry determines to 
choose a successor to Catherine, 47 ; 
attracted to Anne Boleyn, ib. ; en- 
deavors to obtain from the Pope a dis- 
pensation to marry a second time, 51 ; 
resume of Henry's position, 52 sq. ; 
examination of the charge that Henry's 
connection with Anne was incestuous, 
55 sqq. ; the Pope's advice that he 
should marry again and then proceed 
with the trial, 63 ; Henry joins with 
France in declaring war against 
Charles, 65 ; his statement of his case 



as laid before Clement at Orvieto, 67 ; 
Henry's letter to Anne Boleyn, 70; 
the Abbess of Wintou, 71 ; Henry's 
letter of complaint to Wolsey about 
the aj pointment of an unfitting per- 
son, 72 ; Campeggio's prearranged de- 
layo, 74 ; speech in the City, 81 ; re- 
solves to let the trial proceed before 
Campeggio and Wolsey, 93 ; Henry's 
address to the Legates at Blackfriars, 
101 ; refuses to accept Clement, the 
Emperor's prisoner, as judge of his 
cause, 102 ; his momentary inclina- 
tion to abandon Anne, 111 ; reception 
of Chapuys, the Imperial ambassador, 
112 ; interpretation of the advocation 
of his case to Rome, 123 ; denuncia- 
tion of the Pope and Cirdinals, 126 ; 
approves of the reforming side of Lu- 
theranism, ib. ; consults foreign doc- 
tors on his cause, 127, 134, 136 ; con- 
tinued liking for Wolsey, 129 ; a brief 
from Clement forbidding his marriage, 
134 ; Henry invited by Francis to join 
the Smalcaldic League, 135 ; desire to 
recall Wolsey, 136 ; sends him down to 
his diocese, 139 ; the suggestion of a 
neutral place for the trial, 143 ; Henry 
again denounces the Pope and all his 
Court, 145 ; emphatically refuses to 
allow his erase to be tried at Rome, 
ib. ; revival of the Praemunire, 147 ; 
a step towards the break witli the Pa- 
pacy, 149 ; Henry's direct appeal to 
the Pope, 150 ; Clement's second brief 
against Henry's second marriage, 153 ; 
a struggle with the Pope inevitable, 

157 ; clipping the claws of the clergy, 

158 ; Henry declared Supreme Head of 
the Church of England, 159 ; receives 
the Papal brief forbidding his second 
marriage, 162 ; reply to the Nuncio's 
questions as to the nature of his new 
Papacy, 163 ; and to the Pope's ap- 
peal for aid against the Turks, 164, 
178 ; disregards the Pope's threat of 
excommunication, 169 ; rejects the 
Pope's efforts at friendly negotiations, 
178 ; alleged bribery by Henry's am- 
bassador at Rome, 179 ; deliberateness 
of Henry's conduct of his policy, 182 ; 
his reply to Bishop Tunstal's letter 
against schism , 183 ; steps towards the 
toleration of heresy, 186 ; displeasure 
with More, ib. ; "Annates Bill, 187 ; 
French advice to Henry to marry 
without waiting for sentence, 192 ; 
meeting witli Francis, 193 sqq. ; the 
immediate outcome thereof, 195 sq. ; 
rumour of his secret marriage with 
Anne, 196 ; again threatened with ex- 
communication, 198 ; Henry appoints 
Cramner to Canterbury, 203 ; pri- 
vately married to Anne Boleyn, ib. ; 
his law in restraint of the powers of 
bishops, 205 ; courteous conduct to- 
wards the Nuncio, 206 ; allows his 
marriage to be known, 208 ; prepara- 
tions for possible war, ib. ; appeals to 



472 



Index. 



Rome forbidden, 209; resume of 
Henry's position (in regard to the 
divorce) towards the Pope, 218 sq. ; 
Cranraer's judgment, 220 ; Henry in- 
forms the Emperor of his marriage, 
224 ; the formal announcement in the 
House of Lords, 225 ; discovers that 
he had been misled by Francis, 231, 
235, 245; disappointment at the birth 
of a daughter, 238 ; order that the 
Pope was only to be styled "Bishop 
of Rome," 250 ; difficulty in disposing 
of Catherine, 251 ; Henry's fears of 
an insurrection, ib. ; the King's nomi- 
nation to bishoprics sufficient, without 
requiring Papal Bulls, 250 ; the Papal 
sentence, 259 ; passage of the Act 
abolishing the Pope's authority in Eng- 
land, ib. ; refusal of Chapuys's de- 
mand to speak in Parliament for Cath- 
erine, 2G3 ; enforces the oath to the 
Succession Act, 2G7 ; orders more 
kindly treatment of Princess Mary, 
271 ; the question of demanding the 
Succession oath from Catherine and 
Mary, 271 sqq. : the King modifies the 
demand, 270; another meeting with 
Francis arranged, but postponed, 279 ; 
cooling of his feelings for Anne, 286 ; 
reported nouvelles amours, 287, 290; 
interference on behalf of Mary, 287 ; 
refuses to acknowledge any special 
authority in any Pope, 291 ; prospects 
of civil war, 301 ; anxiety for Mary in 
her second illness, 303 ; refuses Cha- 
puys's request that she should be 
again placed under her mother's care, 
304 ; his high opinion of Catherine's 
courage, 305 ; desire to be on good 
terms with Charles, 310 ; letters to 
Sir John Wallop for the Spanish Am- 
bassador in Paris, 330 ; receives a let- 
ter from Charles, 335 ; threat in re- 
gard to " Cardinal " Fisher, 339 ; 
jealousy of the rival Powers, 350 ; en- 
thusiastic reception during his pro- 
gress to the Welsh borders, ib. ; slan- 
ders against him on the Continent, 
359 ; interference in the election of 
Lord Mayor, ib. ; a period of danger 
for Henry, 301 ; opinion that Cather- 
ine and Mary must " bend or break," 
3G5 ; interview with Chapuys during 
Catherine's mortal illness, 375 ; effect 
of Catherine's death, 382 ; rejoicings 
in the Palace, 383 ; Henry's treatment 
of Mary, 384 ; beginning of his dissat- 
isfaction with Anne, 387 ; disappoint- 
ment at her second miscarriage , 3S9 : 
present from him to Mary of her mo- 
ther's crucifix, 395 ; speculation on 
his remarriage, 398 ; rumours about 
Henry's partiality to Jane Seymour, 
400 ; his legal position towards Anne 
Boleyn, 401 ; refuses the Emperor's 
proposal of reconciliation with Rome, 
403 ; reception of Chapuys at Green- 
wich (Easter, 1536), 404 sqq. ; Henry's 
determined position towards Charles, 



406 sqq. ; his report on the affair to 
his ambassador to the Emperor, 410; 
dissolution of Parliament, 413 ; in- 
formed of Anne"s infidelities, orders 
an inquiry, 415 ; the trials resulting, 
422 sqq. ; the trial of Anne, 425 ; the 
mystery of Anne's confession to Crau- 
mer, 430 sqq. ; the Lambeth sentence, 
431 ; Anne's execution ; high person- 
ages present by the King's command, 
435 ; competition from the Continent 
for his hand, 430 ; overtures for re- 
conciliation from Rome, 440 sq. ; Jane 
Seymour, 441 ; speedy marriage with 
her, 444 ; Mary restored to favor, 
445 ; Henry's declaration of neutrality 
in the war between Francis and 
Charles, 449 ; his return to the Ro- 
man communion expected by the 
Catholics, 450 ; determination to carry 
out the Reformation, 452 ; his diffi- 
cult position towards the new Parlia- 
ment, 453 ; his popularity strength- 
ened by the condemnation of Anne, 
454 ; strength of his affection for 
Mary, 455 ; his anger at her again re- 
fusing to take the Succession oath, 
457 ; joy at her acquiescence, 458 ; 
hopeless of further offspring, 400 ; 
close of the first Act of the Reforma- 
tion, 460 sqq. 

Husee, John : his letter on Anne Boleyn 
to Lord and Lady Lisle, 422 ; on Hen- 
ry's seclusion after Anne Boleyn's 
execution, 444. 

Hussey, Lady, 457. 

Hussey, Lord, 28S, 33.^ 401. 

ILLEGITIMACY, treatment of, by 
the Church of Rome, 22. 
Inteville, M. d' : his compound mission 

to England, 423, 437. 
Ireland, rebellion in : proofs that it was 

part of a Papal holy war, 285. 
Italian conjuror, the, 294. 
Italian League, the, 28. 

JAEN, Cardinal of, 269. 
James V. of Scotland, a possible 
claimant to succeed Henry VIII., 23. 

Jordan, Isabella (Prioress of Wilton), 71. 

Julius II., Pope : his dispensation for 
Henry VIII.'s first marriage, 53 ; de- 
fects in his Bull of dispensation to 
Henry, 83 ; alleged brief correcting 
these, 83, 87 ; a Roman opinion of the 
nullity of his dispensation, 160. 

KIMBOLTON, Catherine's residence 
at, 252. 
Kingston, Sir W. (Constable of the 

Tower), 300, 431, 435, 443. 
Kite, Bishop (Carlisle), 443. 
Knight, Dr. (secretary to Henry VIII.) : 
his special mission to Rome, 51. 

LAITY, English middle class : their 
feelings towards Queen Catherine 
and towards the Church, 79. 



Index. 



473 



Lambeth sentence, the : the nullity of 
Henry's marriage with Anne Boleyn, 
431 sq. 

Langey, Sieur de : special envoy to Anne 
Boleyn from Francis, 194. 

Lee, Archbishop (York), 176. 

Legatiue Commission, the (Campeg- 
gio's), 07 sijq., 74, 76. 

Legatiue court, Wolsey's, 34. 

Legend, invulnerability of, 61. 

Legends, historic, 1 sqq. 

Liberty, spiritual, of the world, won by 
Henry's work in the Reformation, 403. 

Liege, Cardinal of : suggested as a judge 
in the divorce cause, 144. 

Lincolnshire rebellion, 460. 

Liugard, Dr. : his interpretation of 
Wolsey's suggested Papal dispensation 
for Henry VIII. 's second marriage, 55. 

Llandaff, Queen Catherine's confessor 
Bishop of, 04. 

Lorraine, Cardinal, 40. 

Louis XII. : his method of settling a 
matrimonial difficulty, 188. 

Luther, Henry VIII. 's partial sympathy 
with, 120. 

Lutheran advances to Henry VIII., 91. 

Lutheranism : its rapid spread in Eng- 
land, 255, 280, 297. 

Lutherans, German : their tacit encour- 
agement by Charles V., 27, 35; his 
fear of exciting them, 133 ; decidedly 
opposed to Henry's divorce, 154. 

MAI, Micer, Imperial agent at Rome, 
89 ; resentment of a slight put 
upon the Emperor, 90 ; assent to Lu- 
theran political objections to Rome, 
91 ; his opinion of the Pope and his 
councillors, 103 ; and of Salviati's in- 
structions to Campeggio, ib. ; reports 
on the mission from Henry to Cle- 
ment, 143; suggestion of a General 
Council to settle difficulties, 100 ; ob- 
tains from Clement concessions as to 
reunion of Lutherans, 175 ; distracted 
with the Pope's evasions, 179 ; charges 
English ambassador with bribery, 179, 
191. 

Manor of the More, Wolsey's residence 
at, 116. 

Martyrology : the Protestant longer and 
no less honourable than the Catholic, 
463. 

Mary, Princess : proposed marriage of, 
with Francis I. or with one of his 
sons, 29 ; suggested proposal to marry 
her to her father's natural son (Duke 
of Richmond), 79 ; separated from 
her mother, 174 ; her father's love of 
her, ib. ; the Emperor's desire to pro- 
tect her rights, 200 ; allowed again to 
live with her mother, 234 ; deprived 
of the title of "Princess," 240; let- 
ter to her father after his marriage 
with Anne, 254 ; attached to the estab- 
lishment of her sister Elizabeth, 252 ; 
anecdotes of the King's affection for 
her, 252 sq. ; her determined attitude, 



261, 266 ; " shows her teeth " against 
the Succession oath, 271 sq. ; has an 
alarming illness, 286 ; belief that her 
life is threatened, 287 ; project to con- 
vey her out of England, 300 ; another 
serious illness, 302; consternation of 
the physicians, 303; reality of her 
personal danger, 317 ; fresh plans for 
her escape, 319 ; removed from Green- 
wich to Eltham, 320 ; further plans, 
ib. ; petition to the Emperor to " ap- 
ply the remedy," 355; her friends 
desire to have her married to the 
Dauphin, 358 ; reply to Anne Boleyn's 
friendly message after Catherine's 
death, 383 ; discovery of a letter 
about her from Anne to Mrs. Shelton, 
388 ; proposal to take the Succession 
oath with a mental reservation, 390 ; 
another plan of escape, 391 ; rejoiced 
at the prospect of her father's separa- 
tion from Anne, 399 ; received back 
into her father's favor, 445 ; question 
of her marriage, 446; her popularity 
increased in consequence of the 
machinations of Anne, 455 ; the ques- 
tion of the Succession oath revived, 
456 ; by Chapuys's advice she submits 
(with a secret protest), 457 ; delight 
of the King and Queen, 458 ; her real 
feelings not disguised, ib. ; unable to 
obtain a Papal absolution for the 
"secret protest" connected with her 
oath, 400. 

Maximilian, Emperor : his high opinion 
of the English people, 20. 

Medici, Catherine de' (niece of Cle- 
ment VII.), marriage of, with the 
Duke of Orleans, 243. 

" Melun, the eels of " (proverb), 226. 

Mendoza, Inigo de (Bishop of Burgos), 
mission of, from Spain to France and 
England, 29, 32, 34,38 ; offers Wolsey 
the bribe of the Papacy, 39 ; in- 
structed to offer other bribes to win 
Wolsey's friendship to the Emperor, 
45 ; his first mention of Anne Boleyn, 
48 ; his belief that Wolsey was the 
instigator of the divorce, 49; reports 
to Charles on the Legatine Commis- 
sion, 75 ; mistaken estimate of Eng- 
lish national opinion, 82 ; recalled : 
his farewell interview with Henry, 97. 

Milan : the question of succession re- 
opened, 302 ; treaty prepared by Spain 
for settlement of the dispute, 393. 

Molza, Gerardo : his account of Cam- 
peggio's reception in England, 76. 

Monastic orders : their depraved condi- 
tion, 325 ; preachers of insurrection, 
326 ; the " very stews of unnatural 
crime," 350 ; continued proofs of their 
iniquitous condition, 452. 

Money, comparative value of, in Henry 
VHP's time, 89, 117. 

Montague, Lord, 305, 461. 

Montfalconet (Charles's maitre d'hotel) : 
his report to Charles on Catherine's 
desire for a sentence, 188. 



474 



Index. 



Moor Park : Catherine's residence at, 
174. 

More, Sir Thomas : made Lord Chancel- 
lor, 120 ; lack of sympathy with ad- 
vanced Reformers, 131 ; enforces 
heresy laws against Lutherans, 154; 
horrified ai the King's claim to 
Supremacy over the Church, he re- 
signs the Chancellorship, 1G3 ; state- 
ment before the Lords of the opinions 
of Universities on the divorce, 160 ; 
his chancellorship distinguished for 
heresy-prosecutions, 18C ; resigns his 
office, 188 ; sent to the Tower for re- 
fusing to take the Succession oath, 
268 ; his prophecy in regard to Anne 
Boleyn's fate, 329 ; committed for 
trial, 339 ; sketch of his position, 343 ; 
trial, 344 ; execution, 345. 

Mortmain Acts : measures to prevent 
their evasion, 185. 

Mountjoy, Lord, 214. 

Mythic element, the, influence of, in 
history, 1. 

NIXE, Bishop (Norwich) : impris- 
oned for burning a heretic, 255 sq. 

Norfolk, Duke of (uncle of Anne 
Boleyn), joins in an appeal to the 
Pope to concede the divorce, 84 ; op- 
posed to Anne's marriage with the 
King, 111 ; sentiments about the di- 
vorce, 114; made President of the 
Council, 120 ; his opinion on the ab- 
solute need of the divorce (1529), 128 ; 
condemnation of the Pope's position 
in the matter, 129 ; suspicions of 
Wolsey's possible return to power, 
129, 131 sq. ; his statement to Chapuys 
of the necessity of Henry having 
made succession, 136; suggests the 
Cardinal of Liege and the Bishop of 
Tarbes as judges in the divorce cause, 
143 ; cautions Chapuys against in- 
troducing Papal briefs into England, 
154 ; firm stand against the threat of 
excommunication, 164 ; admiration of 
Catherine and dislike of Anne Boleyn, 
167 ; heads a deputation of Peers and 
Bishops to Catherine, 170 ; consulta- 
tion with Peers on restraint of Papal 
jurisdiction, 186; his courtesies to the 
Papal Nancio, 206 ; interview with 
Chapuys before attending the meeting 
of the Pope and King Francis at 
Nice, 230 ; denunciation of Rome and 
Romanism, 250 ; expected that Henry 
would submit to the successor of Cle- 
ment in the Papacy, 291 ; withdrawal 
from Court, 305 ; present at the exe- 
cution of Charterhouse monks, 328. 

Norris, Sir Henry, 255 ; present at the 
execution of Charterhouse monks, 
328 ; a paramour of Anne Boleyn, 416 
sq., 418, 419; execution, 429. 

Northumberland, Earl of (Henry Percy), 
alleged secret marriage of, with Anne 
Boleyn, 47 ; disgust at Anne's arro- 
gance, 297. 



Nun of Kent ; disclosures connected 
with, 195, 265 ; the effect of the " re- 
velations," 247. 

OBSERVANTS, the General of the, 
Charles V.'s guardian of the Pope, 
52, 62, 68. 

Orleans, Duke of : marriage with Cathe- 
rine de' Medici, 243. 

Ortiz, Dr., Catherine's special repres- 
entative at Rome, 159, 165, 176, 178 
sq., 181, 189, 194, 199, 259, 261, 351 
sqq., 361, 367, 373. 

Orvieto, imprisonment of Clement VII. 
at, 52, 62. 

Oxford, Earl of, 214. 

PAGET, Lord : his description of 
Chapuys's character, 112. 

Papal curse, inefficiency of, in modern 
days, 260. 

Paris, University of : decision in favor 
of the divorce, 142. 

Parliaments, annual, introduced by 
Henry, 13. 

Parliament summoned after the failure 
of the Blackfriars court, 110; object 
of the meeting, 120 ; impeachment of 
Wolsey, 121 ; reform of Church 
courts, and Clergy Discipline Acts, 
125 ; effect of Clement's delays on, 
151; treatment (session 1531) of the 
Universities' opinions on the divorce, 
166 ; third session (Jan. 1532) : forma- 
tion of an Opposition against violent 
anti-clerical measures, 182 ; measures 
passed in restraint of clerical claims, 
185 ; the Opposition (Peers and Pre- 
lates) appeal to Chapuys for armed 
intervention by the Emperor, 225 ; 
the Act of Supremacy, 292 ; dissolu- 
tion, 413 ; a new Parliament speedily 
summoned after Anne's execution, 
453 ; no account left of the debates in 
this Parliament, 454 ; the new Act of 
Succession, 455. 

Patriarchate, a new, proposed, with Wol- 
sey as its head, 38. 

Paul III. (Farnese) : elected Pope as suc- 
cessor to Clement VII., 290 ; favoura- 
bly disposed towards Henry, 291 ; re- 
strained by Charles from issuing the 
Brief of Execution, 318 ; acknowledg- 
ment (when Cardinal) of Henry's right 
to a divorce, 333 ; prevents the treaty 
between Charles and Henry, 337 ; cre- 
ates Fisher a Cardinal, 33S ; exaspe- 
ration at the news of the execution of 
Fisher, 348 ; difficulties of desired re- 
taliation, 349 ; delay in issuing the 
censures, 351 ; reasons therefor, 352 ; 
desire that Catherine should apply for 
the Brief of Execution, 356 ; thinks 
of declaring Mary Queen in place of 
her "deposed" father, 358; annoy- 
ance at the failure of Fitzgerald's re- 
bellion, 360 ; thinks himself a new 
Hildebrand, 362 ; summary of -his Bull 
against Henry, 363 ; delay in its issue, 



Index. 



475 



367 ; a warm debate in Consistory, 
308 sqq. ; professes kindly feelings to 
Henry after Catherine's death, 403 ; 
reception of the news of Aune's fall, 
439 ; overtures for reconciliation, 440 
sq. ; eager solicitations to Henry to 
return to the Roman communion, 454. 

Paulet, Sir William, 420. 

Pavia, political results of the defeat of 
Francis I. at, 25 sqq. 

Peers, English : their petition to Clem- 
ent to grant Henry's petition, 142. 

" Penny Gleek," 443. 

Percy, Henry (Earl of Northumberland) : 
his statement that Anne Boleyn meant 
to poison the Princess Mary, 253 ; 
swears that there was never contract 
of marriage between liim and Anne, 
419. 

Petition of the Commons (1529), 115. 

Peto, Cardinal, 60. 

Pilgrimage of Grace, the, 59, 400. 

Pole, Geoffrey (brother of Reginald), 
295, 416. 

Pole, Reginald : his manifesto accompa- 
nying Paul III.'s Bull deposing Henry 
VIII., 56; his statement of Henry's 
desire to break with Anne Boleyn, 
111 ; suggested marriage with Princess 
Mary, 241,295. 

Pommeraye, La (French ambassador in 
London) : his denunciation of " that 
devil of a Pope," 1S1 ; recommenda- 
tion that Henry should follow Louis 
XII's example, 1S8, 192. 

Praemunire, 118, 147; proclamation for 
its enforcement, 148 , embarrassments 
caused by its revival, 164. 

Prejudice, influence of, in judging his- 
torical characters, 2 sqq. 

Provisors, the Statute of, 122 ; its re- 
vival, 149. 



REFORMATION, English: at first 
political rather than doctrinal, 6 ; 
its characteristic excellence, 7. 

Reunion of Christendom, Charles V.'s 
efforts for, 175. 

Richmond, Duke of (er. 1525), natural 
son of Henry VIII., 22, 395 ; pres- 
ent at the execution of Charterhouse 
monks, 328 ; educated as a Prince, 
but his position not recognized by 
the law, 453 ; his popularity and re- 
semblance to his father, 455 ; Surrey's 
proposal that the Crown should be 
settled on him, 455 ; his death, 459. 

Rochford, Lord (Anne Boieyn's broth- 
er) : mission to Paris to announce his 
sister's marriage, 20S ; present at the 
execution of Charterhouse monks, 328; 
specially attentive to Chapuys, 404; 
refused the Garter, 415 ; takes part in 
the tournament (1530), 416; arrested, 
418 ; charged with incest with his sis- 
ter, 420 ; his trial, 426 sq. ; Chapuys's 
account of his dying speech, 428 ; the 
real speech, ib. 



Rome, sack of, by the Duke of Bour- 
bon, 35. 

Royal Supremacy, meaning of, 159 ; ac- 
cepted by Convocation, 186. 

Russell, Sir John, sent with money to 
Clement VII., 28. 



ST. ALBANS, Wolsey abbot of, 89, 
116. 

St. John the Baptist and Herod, Bishop 
Fisher's allusion to, in the matter o£ 
the divorce, 106. 

Salisbury, Countess of, 23, 241, 461. 

Salviati, Cardinal, 46, 88, 103, 233. 

Sampson, Dean (of the Chapel Royal): 
speech against the Pope's claims over 
England, 274. 

Sanctuary : felonious clerks deprived of 
the right of, 454. 

Sandys, Lord (Henry's chamberlain), 
297. 

Sanga (Clement VII. 's secretary), 27, 80, 
90. 

Sens, Cardinal (Chancellor), 40. 

Seymour, Sir Edward, 405. 

Seymour, Jane : first association of her 
name with Henry, 400; her marriage, 
444; great popularity, 445; kindness 
to Mary, 455, 458. 

Sforza, Duke of Milan, death of, 302. 

Slielton Mrs. (Anne Boieyn's aunt), 252, 
202, 207, 209 sq., 320, 387, 392. 

Six Articles Bill, the, 7. 

Smalcaldic League, the, 135, 255. 

Smeton, Mark (paramour of Anne Bol- 
eyn), 415, 410, 419 ; execution, 429. 

Sorbonne, the : suggested reference of 
the divorce cause to, 129. 

Soria, Lope de (Minister of Charles V. 
at Genoa), his letter on the sack of 
Rome, 30, 43. 

Spain : the Cabinet's discussion of Cath- 
erine's position after Cranmer's judg- 
ment, 221 sqq. ; their decision, 223 ; 
debates on proposed treaty between 
Charles and Henry, 307, 335. 

Spaniards, the : their atrocities in Italy, 
29, 35. 

Statute Book, the : its historic aspect, 
13. 

Stokesley, Bishop (London), 134, 416. 

Succession to the English throne, dan- 
ger of a disputed, 21, 79, 123 ; various 
possible claimants if Henry VIII. had 
no heir, 23. 

Succession, Act of, 204 ; the oath to it 
enforced, 267 ; debate in Council as 
to its enforcement on Catherine and 
Mary, 271 sqq. ; (after Anne's death) 
the discussion of, 454 sq. 

Suffolk, Duke of : his mission from Hen- 
ry to France, 94 ; Chapuys's report on 
his sentiments about the divorce, 114 ; 
made Vice-President of the Council, 
120. 

Supremacy, Act of (explaining in detail 
the meaning of the Royal Supremacy), 
292 sq. ; enforced, 327 sqq. 



476 



Index. 



Sussex, Lord : one of a deputation of 
nobles to Catherine at Moor Park, 
176 ; proposes to Parliament (alter 
Anne's execution) that the Duke of 
Richmond should have the succession 
to the Crown, 455. 



TARBES, Bishop of (afterwards Car- 
dinal Grammont) : his mission to 
England from France, 30 ; the first 
publicly to question the legitimacy of 
the Princess Mary, 31, 81 ; (ambassa- 
dor to Clement VII.) his statement of 
Clement's real opinion on the divorce, 
134 ; suggested by Duke of Norfolk 
as a judge in the divorce cause, 143 ; 
caution to Clement as to the con- 
sequences of his losing England, 
168 ; mission to Rome to demand a 
General Council, 195 ; a proposal to 
Clement apparently in Henry's name, 
244. 
Talboys, Sir Gilbert : married the moth- 
er of Henry VIII. 's illegitimate son, 

Throgmorton, Sir George : his state- 
ments about Henry VIII., Lady 
Boleyn and her daughters, 59 sqq. 

Throgmorton, Michael, 59. 

Toison d'or (French herald), 65. 

Tournou, Cardinal : his special mission 
to Rome to demand a General Coun- 
cil, 195, 231. 

Treasons, the Statute of, 456. 

Tunstal, Bishop (Durham) : his letter 
to Henry on the Royal Supremacy, 
182 ; speech in favor of the Succes- 
sion Act, 273 sq. ; mission to Cathe- 
rine on the subject, 275. 

WALLOP, Sir John (English repre- 
sentative at Paris), 306, 373, 424. 

Warham, Archbishop (Canterbury), as- 
sessor to Wolsey as Legate, 34 ; doubt- 
ful as to the divorce, 42 ; afterwards 
in favour of it, 142 ; his halting opin- 
ions, 151 ; protest against the Royal 
Supremacy, 183 ; dying prote_st against 
the anti-papal legislation, 187. 

Weston, Sir Francis, paramour of Anne 
Boleyn, 417 sqq., 422 sq. ; execution, 
429. 

Wilton, the state of the convent at, 71 ; 
Henry VIII. 's letters on the appoint- 
ment of its Abbess, 72. 

Wiltshire, Earl of (Sir Thomas Boleyn, 
Anne Boleyn's father), 111, 134 ; one 
of the English deputies at the corona- 
tion of Charles V., 134 ; withdraws 
his opposition to his daughter's mar- 
riage with the King, 208 ; present at 



the execution of the Charterhouse 
monks, 328. 

Winchester, Wolsey bishop of, 89, 116. 

Wolsey, Cardinal : his first efforts to 
promote the divorce of Henry, 25 ; 
eager to maintain the Papacy, 26 ; his 
desire of an Anglo-French alliance, 
29 ; a pensionary of the P mperor, ib. ; 
brings the question of divorce before 
his Legatine court, 34 ; his policy af- 
ter the Sack of Rome, 37 ; the pro- 
posal to make Wolsey Archbishop of 
Rouen and Patriarch, 38 ; refuses the 
Emperor's offered bribe oi the Papacy, 
39 ; mission to Paris, 41 ; interview 
with Bishop Fisher, 42 ; further bribes 
offered him by Charles, 45 ; signs the 
French Cardinals' protest against the 
Pope's captivity, 46 ; disgust at the 
King's selection of Anne Boleyn, 49 ; 
at first endeavors to check the di- 
vorce, 50 ; sends a draft dispensation 
for the Pope's signature, 53 ; the 
wording thereof, 54 ; consultations 
with Campeggio, 79 ; the secret decre. 
tal, 84, 88 ; chances of Wolsey's elec- 
tion to the Papacy, 88 ; his boundless 
wealth, ib. ; letter to Campeggio on 
Catherine's position, 93 ; in doubt 
about the progress of his French 
policy, 94 ; foresight of coming 
events, 97 ; the Legatine court at 
Blackfriars, 99 ; delays, 105 ; effect 
of Bishop Fisher's interposition, 106 ; 
Campeggio refuses to pass sentence, 
107 ; despatch to the Commissioners 
at Rome, ib. ; causes of the animosity 
that broke out against him, 116 ; the 
manifold sources of his wealth, ib. ; 
his son, 117 ; Lord Darcy's list of 
complaints against him, ib. ; details 
of his fall, 120 sqq. ; hopes of return 
to power, 131 ; obliged to resign the 
sees of Winchester and St. Albans, 
132 ; allowed a grant by way of pen- 
sion, ib. ; becomes the friend of Cathe- 
rine and the secret adviser of Cha- 
puys, 138 ; starts to visit his diocese, 
139 ; his death at Leicester Abbey, 
140. 

Worcester, Lady, the first accuser of 
Anne, 415. 

Wriothesley Chronicle, the, 428, 432. 

Wyatt, Sir Henry, 421. 

Wyatt, Sir Thomas (the poet), one of 
the lovers of Anne Boleyn, 47, 421. 

YORK, Archbishop (Lee) : mission, 
with Tunstal, to Catherine about 
the Succession Act, 275. 
York, Wolsey archbishop of, 89, 116. 
Yorkshire rebellion, 460. 



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